HPPS Parody
by Chakahlah
Summary: My take on harry and company reading through the Harry Potter Series - rated for my demented mine - PRE-SLASH AND HINTS OF SLASH - hints of muggle drugs and the consequences - Ron, Ginny and Dumbles bashing - Creature fic
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone. I had no idea what to call this one so it is staying how it is. Nothing in this story belongs to me except for the poor writing - as the bad guys loose, it is safe to say that nothing comes from my lips or mind.  
I am also going to say that this and the six others that will follow it are my way of attacking the books in a way that is enjoyable to me. If you want to leave flames, go ahead since I am writing these for myself for when I need a laugh. My characters are going to all be OOC and many of them will be forgotten, but I still love them all ... particualarly with mustard, ketchup, fried onions and grated cheese *grin*  
oh, and this may be handy too

Legend:  
_story (italics)  
_**parseltongue (bold)  
**conversation (normal)

* * *

Harry stormed into the Room of Requirement in a temper, not noticing the group of people sitting in it. "Time!" he snapped and a clock appeared before him. He sighed. "You know what to do, Elise."

The group of seven people stared gob smacked as the room put a shield around them and a group of ten mannequins appeared, some in humanoid forms, others in non-humanoid forms that then attacked the black-haired teen. After ten minutes of watching the attacking forces, the group – consisting of Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, Voldemort – who looked like an older version of Tom Riddle - Narcissa Malfoy and Lucius Malfoy - jumped as the door once more swung open to reveal three other students. Seeing the group of Slytherins, but ignoring them, they walked in to watch their friend.

"Ok, who'd you think it was that got him like this? Ron, or the Headmaster?" Neville asked after Harry received a tearing bite from one of the vampire mannequins.

"It was Dumbledore. You can tell because of how he is reacting. If it was any of the Weasleys, he would be much more violent," Luna said dreamily, watching as Harry dispatched the last mannequin using the darkest spell he could without needing the room to become re-enforced.

"Elise, the door and you know the set up. I don't want anyone to be able to come into or get out of this room unless I tell you to get them – and under no circumstances are you to let that manipulative old goat in. Do I make myself clear?"

A chime sounded around the room and Harry nodded. "Right. Neville you know where the box is. Luna the papers haven't been moved from where they were last meeting, 'Mione sit down before you fall down. As for the rest of you, welcome to your first "What side of the war do I support' Club meeting. I am the President – Harry Potter, otherwise known as The-Brat-Who-Keeps-On-Living-Even-Through-Suicide. Mr Longbottom is our Treasurer and Miss Lovegood is our Secretary. Wands will go away as they will not work in this room except for if I use them and I don't plan on using my wand on anyone in this room and Hermione, if you do not sit down this second, I will tie you to the bed and leave you there and we will carry on this meeting without you."

The Slytherins watched in shocked silence as Hermione stopped what she was doing and sat on one of the chairs that had appeared as the barrier was removed.

"Hey, Har? You need help with that cut on your shoulder?"

"No Neville. I'm just going to let it bleed for a while."

"Ok, but I will heal it before you loose too much blood again – like the last time."

"If you insist, Nev."

"I do."

Harry sank into the chair beside Hermione and sighed in relief. As Neville and Luna joined them and set up their items, Harry covered his eyes. "Are the seven of you going to sit, or are you just going to stand there for the whole time that we are going to be in here?"

Luna smiled at them in her usual dreamy way. "I would sit if I were you before he just forces you into a chair. Last time we were in here for a week before he could face the school." They waited for several moments before Harry snapped. Soon all seven of them found themselves in comfortable seats and unable to get off them. Luna shrugged. "I did warn you."

"Who has the first order of business?" Harry asked, his face still in his hands. The two other Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw exchanged looks.

"We want to know what it was that he did that set you off like that, Harry. And the truth, if you will."

Harry sighed. "Ok, but first," he looked at the seven intruders. "In this room, you will hear and see a lot of things. I want to begin by telling you that what you see in this room is who we four really are and if any of this gets around either the school or the profit I will come after you with a butcher's knife and the AK curse on my lips. Do you understand?" At their wide-eyed nods, he looked at his friends.

"He's forcing me back to the Muggles this year – AGAIN!" He stood up suddenly and started pacing. "After everything that I told him that goes on in that house, he is still forcing me to go back there and not only that, but I'm not allowed to leave the goddamn place even if I wanted to! All he damn well does is sit in his chair eating stupid muggle candy and say "Oh, I'm sure that it isn't that bad, my boy," while twinkling at me. I even told him that I'd spend the rest of my school life in detention with Professor Snape if I didn't have to go there this year!"

When The Potions Professor heard this, he frowned in thought, while the other Slytherins looked shocked.

"I thought that you were a muggle-lover, Potter." Voldemort said. All the Slytherins were shocked when the other four started to laugh hysterically.

Seeing the looks on their faces, Harry smirked. "Elise – I want my book, if you will." Everyone was shocked into silence at the appearance of a large book before Harry. He handed it to the Dark Lord and indicated for him to read it.

"I have had that book since I was five and I have written in it every morning before I got up. Until now, no one has been able to understand what I have written. Do you like it? It's even written in ink I made myself." Everyone in the room noticed the slight shudder go through the Dark Lord as he looked into his enemy's eyes.

"I think you have been on the wrong side of the war all your life, Potter."

Lucius and Severus looked at their Lord waiting to hear more and getting more then a little freaked out by the smirk on the Saviour's lips.

"You can tell them if you want, Voldie. I'm not going to stop you."

Voldemort swallowed nervously, keeping an eye on the youngster before him. "The book was full of nothing but the words …" he cleared his throat. "I will not kill those around me. And they were written in blood – His own blood."

Neville immediately reached for his wand and healed the cut on Harry's shoulder. "DON'T TELL ME YOU HAVE BEEN DOING THAT STILL! EVEN AFTER I TOLD YOU NOT TO!" Neville kept ranting, stopping only to say an incantation every now and then until he had a list of everything going on in Harry's body. Reading through it quickly, he started pulling potions out of a small bag he had hidden at his feet. "You are to drink every single one of these potions mister. You may be the Alpha of this small group we have in here, but I'm still your healer and you will listen to me!"

Harry rolled his eyes and started taking the potions as they were handed to him. "Nev, stop worrying about me. I am fine and once Hermione allows me to go off after the bastard that put her in the condition she is in, I will be much better."

"Harry, don't you dare go on about that again!"

"Awww, but 'Mione," he whined.

"No buts Mister! I am not going to allow you to go after him … at least not until after we have all the details as to what we can and can't do under wizarding law."

Draco, Pansy and Blaise sniggered as Harry pouted, but even they became scared at the large predator-like grin that covered his face a second later.

"Excuse me, Lord Malfoy? May I talk with you and Lady Malfoy for a moment about a problem that I have?" he asked in a velvet purr.

Lucius smirked. This boy was definitely an interesting character. "Of course, Mr Potter. What can we do for you?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply when he felt a continual poke on his arm. "'Mione, do you mind doing that to Neville or Luna, Sweetie? I'm trying to talk to the nice blonde man and his wife."

Severus struggled to keep himself from laughing at what he heard The Brat tell the girl annoying him. He almost lost it when the above-mentioned girl pouted.

"But Neville pokes back and Luna tries to test me to see if I'm under the influence of Nargals," she whined.

Everyone but Harry, Neville and Luna blinked at her change of temperament.

Harry sighed and shook his head. "Okay, Sweetie, you can keep doing it to me," he said, rolling his eyes. He turned to look at the Malfoy Patriarch. "If Draco were to sleep with a witch while she was under the affects of a potion he had given her, had gotten her pregnant and left her, refusing any and all responsibility for the child she now carried, what would that girls family legally be able to do to him?"

Lucius and Narcissa blinked. They hadn't been expecting that!

Draco had started to choke when he heard what Harry had said. "I WOULDN'T DO THAT POTTER!" he yelled, causing Hermione to burst into tears. Harry put his arm around her and rocked her, murmuring to her while glaring at Draco for his outburst. Harry kept murmuring to her until she had calmed down enough to let Luna take her through a door that had just appeared in the wall.

When the girls had left, Harry turned his full glare onto the blonde male. "I never said that you would do it, Malfoy," he said coldly, "I said IF! I want to know if I can legally tear Ronald Weasley limb from limb for giving Hermione a muggle date-rape drug, forcing her to sleep with him getting her pregnant while doing so, and then leaving her to look after the child by herself! If I had my way, Ronald Weasley would be in St Mungo's long term centre with injuries done to him mind that make Frank and Alice Longbottom look as if they would be getting out the next day. Sorry you had to hear that from me Neville."

Neville looked up from where he was underlining things in a list that had appeared beside him. "No problem Harry. I'd join you in putting him there." He looked down and continued with his list.

Lucius looked infuriated at the information. "He did what?" he hissed, eyes flashing dangerously.

Narcissa covered her husband's hand with her own. "Legally, all you can do is have a lawyer talk with his family about it. If you were related to her by blood, it would be much easier to get revenge."

Harry thought about something for a second before looking Neville in the eye, who nodded slightly. He turned back to the group before him. "Does a sibling blood-bonding count?"

There was silence when Hermione and Luna walked out of the bathroom. Hermione walked straight past her seat and curled up on Harry's lap, shuddering slightly.

"You ok, Sweetie?" he asked her softly.

"No, I'm not. I'm tired. I can't sleep at night because of the nightmares. I can't stop them," she said, tearfully. "I can't even take dreamless sleep because of the baby."

"It's ok, hun. I'll make sure you get a good night's sleep. How about you go get ready for an early night? After you've had a shower and get dressed, then come and get me. I'd like for you to take Luna, Pansy or maybe Lady Malfoy with you to keep an eye on you while you have a shower, ok?"

Hermione nodded slowly. "Can you ask Lady Malfoy if she'd come with me please? I want my mum, but she doesn't want anything to do with me since I'm pregnant." Hermione's eyes filled with tears again.

Hearing this, Narcissa stood up and walked to the girl. "You come with me, Love. I'll watch over you." She walked the silently crying girl back to the bathroom.

Neville looked at Harry suspiciously. "You're going to stay up all night again, aren't you?"

"No Nev, I'm not. I'm going to use the dream-eater spell on her. I can handle them, she can't – not at the moment." He squeezed the bridge of his nose as tight as he could before releasing it. "I think we should all go to bed early tonight and continue in the morning, what do you all think?'

Just as Voldemort opened his mouth to agree, a shout came through the door. "Harry! Are you in there? The door won't open for me. I know you don't want to go to your aunt and uncle's house, but you have to, my boy. It is for the Greater Good."

Harry snapped. "Of course I'm in here you daft bat! And of course you can't get in here. You can't get into this room unless it isn't in use! I'm staying in here until I want to come out, now go away!"

"Alright, you all have done your Owls. Just who else is in there with you, my boy? We seem to have a few people missing."

Harry and Neville smirk at each other. "Me, Nev, 'Mione, Malfoy, Zabini, Parkinson and Snape are in here, Sir." Harry made the 'sir' as sarcastic as he could, before continuing. "We are also having a lovely tea party with Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy and a not-so-reptilian Dark Lord and it was rather enjoyable and I'm absolutely dying to get back to it, so do you mind?"

The people in the room heard a sigh. "I'm sorry, My Boy. I know you are angry with me for this, but it is for the Greater Good. If you do not come out of there before the end of term, then I'm going to have to send you to your Aunt and Uncle's house for the next school year and I'm afraid that the Order will be much too busy to check up on you if you do that."

The people in the room listened to the man's footsteps fade until a scream of pain made them jump. Turning around, they spotted the boy-who-lived surrounded by a clear shield with a large flame spewing out of his wand. The scream had come from another mannequin – this one made to look and sound like the Headmaster. Everyone – including Hermione and Narcissa who had just come back from the bathroom – backed away from the sight until Harry fell to his knees and sobbed softly.

When he pulled a knife from one of his pockets, Neville sighed and shook his head. "He only ever needs to cut when he has dealt with the Headmaster or the muggles. I don't know how to get him to stop or even if I should get him to stop - I think that it does him good." He kept his eyes on the black-haired teen as he cut deeply into his own flesh, groaning softly in relief as black blood poured from the cut.

Everyone blinked. Black? Snape was the first one to notice what was happening and relaxed. "It's ok. He isn't cutting for suicide … at least, not this time. He's releasing all the dark matter from his bloodstream. What you can see there is dark magic."

Everyone relaxed and watched until the cut started to bleed red and he healed himself before standing.

"Come on everyone. Let's go to bed. We will continue on in the morning. Elise, can you please get us some beds? I'm going to need separate rooms for the couples, one each for Professor Snape and Mr Voldie." Voldemort growled, which Harry ignored. "A room for Draco and Blaise to share – unless they want separate rooms – and one for pansy and you know what Hermione and my needs are." Within seconds, the room had changed around into one large room with lots of beds in it with people's names on the pillows. "The dividers will go up when everyone is in their own bed, just in case people want to talk."

Harry picked Hermione up, bridal-style and lay her on her bed and tucked her in.

"Harry?'

"Yes 'Mione?"

"Can you tell me a bedtime story?"

"Okay, just let me do this spell, then I'll tell you a story. Muggle or wizard?"

"Wizard please."

Harry smiled and did the charm before settling onto a seat next to Hermione's bed. "Once upon a time, in a place not far from where you live, there was another world entirely, one where magic was a way of life and dragons filled the skies. Into this world, a child was born. This child was small and defenceless and was deemed unimportant. So unimportant that no one cared to see if it were male or female or even give it a name. What no one knew was that this child would grow to be the most important member or the wizarding society. Because of this, the child was left in the middle of the woods in a basket as not even its parents wanted it …"

After Hermione had fallen asleep half way through the story, Harry finally took notice of the room and discovered that everyone else had gone to bed so he walked to the one comfortable chair left and sank into it, rubbing his face with his hands. He was exhausted, what with needing to deal with Dumbledore, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and know this. He shook his head and stretched. "Elise?" he whispered. "Could you grab me a firewhisky and a double bourbon?"

"Can you make that four, Mr Potter?" a dark, velvet voice interrupted him.

Harry turned to see Lord Malfoy, Voldemort and Professor Snape behind him. "Make that four of each, Elise … and another three chairs." The chairs and drinks appeared at the same time. Harry took a mouthful of his bourbon and sighed in contentment. "Merlin I needed that," he muttered. "I have a feeling that it is going to be a looooong night."

Severus and Lucius exchanged glances as the boy took a mouthful of the whisky and swallowed without pulling any faces, suggesting he'd been drinking it long enough to get used to the burning. Voldemort just watched all three of them with a frown.

"So, what is it that you three gentlemen want?" Harry asked after he had finished both drinks. "I doubt that your reason for coming over here is to have a drink with a Gryffindor."

"Well," Voldemort started. "You can start by not calling me 'Voldie'. If you have to, it is either Tom or Marvolo.

Harry nodded in acceptance.

"How far is Miss Granger?" Lucius asked.

Harry sighed. "She's nearly finished her first trimester. I seem to be the only one who can handle her mood swings and her nightmares. I don't know how many times I've had Elise wake me in the middle of the night to help her. I do all that I can, and it doesn't seem to be enough. She's getting very little sleep, what with nightmares and studying …"

"And you are getting less, but the looks of you."

Harry stared at the Professor before sighing heavily. "You're right. I'm getting two, maybe three hours of sleep every two or three days when I don't study." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I can't just sleep though. I need to be there for 'Mione with how she is. I need to protect my family from that old coot – and by family, I mean my blood-bound family. Hermione, Luna, Neville and the Weasley Twins."

Tom looked at Harry with his eyes narrowed. "Why, Mr Potter, do you have a glamour on?"

Harry froze, telling everyone that he did indeed have a glamour concealing his features. He hid his face in his hands and let it drop. At the sharp intake of breath, he knew that it wasn't only the one on his face that dropped. He looked up at the three men with marbled green and red eyes and smirked slightly. "That is why. When I'm as tired as I am now, I become half me, half you. My temper stays the same, but my wand hand always itches to grab my wand and shout 'Crucio' at imbeciles. It's one bad thing about our connection, but Dumbledore hasn't caught it yet."

The three men exchanged looks once more as the tired face before them melted back into the face of the Harry Potter that they all knew.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?"

Harry looked at the blonde haired aristocrat with a smirk. "Tomorrow, we are going to be going through my school life to see what I did wrong and how it could have been fixed. Merlin I hate this. I already know what the first thing I did wrong was," he added as all the men walked to their own beds.

"What is that, Mr. Potter?" The velvety voice of the Potions Master asked as they all got into their beds.

"I should have killed my aunt and uncle when I had the chance of not going to Azkaban due to accidental magic."

Elise then put up the borders around the rooms, leaving the three ex-Slytherin males to think about what they had just heard. As she put up a strong silencing spell around Harry's bed, Elise – also known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – pulled a copy of seven books into the Room of Requirement and put them into two piles.

On the larger pile, the note said "past". The smaller pile said "future if nothing is changed". Then nothing in the room moved, except for one black-haired boy who had settled in for another restless night's sleep filled with nightmares, only this time, they weren't his own.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while and there is a reason for this. I have become my grandmother's full time carer and my life now revolves around her and my grandfather. I do still write and I hope to post the new stuff that I wrote ages ago as soon as possible, but I am still dependent on library computers and only when I can find the time. Please be patient and none of my stories will every be discontinued .. only delayed for a while.**

_**Chapter 2**_

Harry woke with a strangled scream. He groaned as the result of his restless night hit him fully in the form of sweat-soaked sheets. "Tempus," he whispered, blinking blearily. He sighed in exasperation when he noticed that it had just gone 5:30. Shaking his head, he got up, knowing that he wouldn't be able to sleep. He had known from the start that he wouldn't have been able to get more then an hour's sleep last night, but he had tried. Maybe if he had a cold shower and a few dozen cups of coffee he'd be more awake for the day.

"Elise. We are going to need two communal bathrooms – one for males, one for females and a change of clothes. Get everyone an outfit similar to the one I wear for while we are in here and have the clothes everyone is wearing washed for when we leave. We also need towels, toiletries, shampoo and conditioner and soap. I'm going to have a cold shower. Hopefully it will wake me up some. Can you get one of the House Elves assigned to this room for whenever one of us calls … and can it please not be Dobby? Order breakfast for 7:30am, lunch at 1:30pm, dinner at 6:30pm and a tea service for 10:00am, 3:00pm and 9:00pm? And have some fresh brewed coffee sent in ASAP."

A chime went off and Harry nodded. "Thanks, Elise. Wake the others at seven if they don't wake up before then, ok? Thanks Hun."

By the time Harry had showered, dried, dressed and onto his second mug of coffee, he had directed the other ten people he was staying with to the right bathroom and breakfast had been served.

"Hey Potter?' Draco called from where the table from last night had been left. "What the hell are these?"

Harry walked over and looked at the books and pad and paper beside them. "They are books, Malfoy. I would have thought that as the top male student of our year that you would have known what a book was."

Draco opened his mouth to say something, but closed his mouth as his father shook his head slightly. Pansy and Blaise walked over to their friend and sat looking at the books while they ate.

Harry sighed. "It looks as if Elise is going to make me start from the beginning of my school life and show me what I did wrong where. I'm assuming that she wants all of us to know what is going on, so we may as well start after breakfast."

Everyone nodded except for Neville.

"I want you to remove the glamours, Harry."

"No Nev."

"I said remove them. I can't see what is wrong with you if I can't see it, now can I?"

Harry sighed and looked down, releasing his glamours. He heard the gasps that came from Narcissa and the Slytherin students. Looking up, he saw the concern in the eyes of Tom, Severus and Lucius. Hermione, Luna and Neville just shook their heads.

"Tell us the truth Harry. How bad were they last night?" Hermione asked.

"Lets just say that I'm glad that I was the one that had them and not you. I also had a few of my own mixed in as well, so I had very little sleep last night."

The other three just nodded and let him eat in peace.

Draco looked at his Father. "Father, is it wise to have a hormonal pregnant woman and a tired psychotic saviour of the wizarding world trapped in the same room?"

"It is, actually," Luna announced in her normal dreamy tones. "No matter how bad Harry gets, he would never hurt Hermione, Neville or myself. He does get very … temperamental though. It's quiet fun!"

The three Slytherin students and Draco's father looked at each other before wisely deciding to not talk about it.

Once breakfast had been completed and Harry was onto his fifth mug of coffee the group sat in the same positions as they had the night before, everyone looking at the seven books as if they would explode at any moment.

Considering that the title of the first one was 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" Harry would have been surprised if the books didn't explode. Nothing in his life ever went the way it was supposed to.

"Alright, who wants to read first?" Hermione asked the group in general after several moments of nothing. Before anyone could answer, Neville had torn a strip of parchment and had torn it into 11 pieces with a number on it.

"This is the order we are going to be reading in. Luna, if you would be so kind?"

Luna wrote the numbers 1 through 11 down the side of the parchment and waited patiently. After everyone had drawn a number Neville smirked.

"This is the order that we are going to read in and it can not be changed. We begin with Draco, Blaise, Lord Malfoy, Lady Malfoy, Professor Snape, Mr Voldemort person, Pansy, Harry, Hermione. I am next and lastly Luna. So, Malfoy, here is the book, have fun reading the first chapter."

"But I don't want to read about Potter's life," the blonde teen whined.

"Draco," Lucius warned. "If you do not participate in this, I will give you to your godfather as potions ingredients – but you would probably ruin that as well! So read!"

Draco picked up the book, pouting.

"Fine!" He cleared his throat.

**Chapter One – The Boy Who Lived**

_**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."**_

"Them? Normal? Ha!" Neville interrupted.

Draco glared at him before continuing.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

Draco grimaced with distaste while his father raised an eyebrow.

"Is it necessary to read about these … people, Harry?" Narcissa asked, placing her hand on her son's shoulder to prevent him from saying something she was sure that he would regret.

"Yes," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused flatly

She blinked in surprise.

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

Pansy blinked in confusion. "Um … I know that this may sound rather stupid but … what's a drill?"

Hermione smiled at the Slytherin girl. "A drill is a muggle tool used to make holes in things."

A picture of a drill appeared on the wall of the room.

"Yeah," Harry said with a very disturbing look on his face. "Pity I haven't been able to see how it works on human skulls yet."

Blaise and Pansy exchanged glances and moved slightly closer to their friend's parents while Severus, Lucius and Tom exchanged looks remembering the talk from the previous night.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"A better description would be 'Walrus, horse and baby whale'," Neville said spitefully. "No finer boy anywhere my left foot!"

"I agree," Luna stated in the same tone of voice "I know of a fair few boys that are finer then him - Hitler for example or even Grindewald."

Harry laughed hysterically at this, causing Severus and Lucius to frown in thought and the three Slytherin student's jaws to become acquainted with their chests.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"Hang on! Are these your relatives, Potter?" Severus asked, incredulously.

Harry nodded with a more-than-slightly demented smile on his face. "That they are, Professor!"

"Your parents were their dirty little secret? They are what they were terrified of everyone finding out about? I find myself agreeing with Mr Longbottom – Them? Normal? HA!" Severus' voice got louder and louder until he shouted the last word as loud as he could.

Neville stared at the Potions Master as if he had just appeared in pink robes and started handing out thornless roses.

Draco found that he had lost his voice with shock that his godfather had agreed with a Gryffindor, much less Longbottom.

**Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years: in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister …**

"I'm sure my mother did the same – I would have, in fact, I do!" Harry beamed before closing his eyes and humming a song to himself.

Tom couldn't help himself. He started to chuckle slightly, shocking everyone. "What? Just because I'm a Dark Lord doesn't mean that I can't I find anything funny."

**Because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDusleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son too, but they had never even seen him.**

"And we all wish that it had stayed that way," Harry glowered at the book.

Hermione sighed and pat his arm in an attempt at comfort. "Harry, sweetie? Try not to make Malfoy Junior wet his pants before you actually meet him in the books."

Harry nodded and stopped glowering, causing Draco to heave a quick sigh of relief.

**This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potter's away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his highchair.**

"I always believed that he was a bastard from birth. Tell me, Harry, were your aunt and uncle married before they had him?" Hermione spat hatefully.

Blaise and Pansy exchanged looks. Maybe there was more to these Gryffindors then meets the eye.

"I can see why you would need to remind yourself to not kill them if this is an example of their behaviour," Tom stated softly.

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window. At half-past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke,"**

"If that thing is little, then I'm the Lizard Queen!" Harry called out in a voice vaguely reminiscent of his divination teacher.

Draco glared at Harry for interrupting him once again before continuing.

**Chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and baked out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said 'Privet Drive' – No, looking at the sign: cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

"They knew of our world and what we can do and he still wants to not believe in it? Damn your relatives are strange!" Blaise cried with an incredulous look on his face.

"Yeah. No wonder you ended up in Gryffindor! It would take a hell of a lot of courage to even think of visiting them, let alone living with them!" Pansy agreed.

Harry smirked at Pansy.

"Who said he's a Gryff?" Neville, Hermione and Luna asked calmly.

Tom smirked in a conspirational way at Harry.

~**I always wondered why you weren't in Slytherin.~ **he hissed in parseltongue.

~**I guess you will just have to wait and see, won't you?~ **Harry hissed back with a larger smirk on his face.

**Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes –**

"Funny clothes? What funny clothes? Since when are cloaks 'funny clothes'?" Narcissa asked slightly panicking.

"The only time a muggle would wear a cloak is if they are dressing up. To a muggle the cloaks we were every day are strange," Hermione explained.

"Don't worry about him, Lady Malfoy – he's just an ignorant muggle who has a death wish," Harry soothed, eyes flashing with sympathy.

"That's true," Narcissa stated, slightly calmer. "At least the bit about him being muggle and please, call me Narcissa."

"Only if you call me/him Harry," Hermione, Harry, Luna and Neville chorused once more.

Draco blinked. "Freaky."

**The get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos **

"WHO DOES THAT MUGGLE THINK HE IS CALLING A BUNCH OF WIZARDS 'WEIRDOS'?" Tom yelled, standing up from his chair with the force of his ire.

"God." Harry smiled innocently when everyone turned to look at him.

**Standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something … yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.**

Harry sighed sarcastically. "We couldn't have had that now, could we? After all, he might have jumped into the car and driven home so fast that he hit a tree and died on impact, but no, nothing that makes my life easier would ever happen, so he had to have a bloody wonderful morning which made my hell of a life even worse then it already was!"

Tom looked at Harry in astonishment and a slight amount of awe. "No wonder you are never scared of me – you are worse then I was at your age! Not to mention you live with Satan, his wife and their spawn!"

Harry shrugged away the uncomfortable feeling he was getting from the look on the Dark Lord's face. "No, it would be much more comfortable living with Uncle Beelz. At least I'd be warm!"

Hermione let out a half-giggle, half-sob at the truth in her blood-brother's words.

Draco cleared his throat and shifted slightly in his seat, uncomfortable with a hormonal Hermione. "Continuing on."

**He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.**

"Sometimes I think that wizards are just as stupid as muggles. Sure, I admit that there was something to celebrate, but couldn't have they done it in a way that showed how much more sophisticated they were to them?" Harry sighed before looking up at the rest of the room and seeing the shocked faces of the Slytherins, both past and present. "What? Don't you think that those on the light side were endangering our world?"

"I did NOT just hear the Gryffindor Golden Boy say that … did I?" Pansy asked as she rubbed at one of her ears.

Neville grinned at her. "Yes. Yes you did. And he isn't the Gryffindor Golden Boy."

"And I'm a Hufflepuff," Severus muttered, hoping that no one heard him.

"Well, the Sorting Hat told me that it couldn't decide whether to put you into Slytherin or Hufflepuff until you threatened to cut it up into little pieces, burn it with dragon's breath and see if the ash left over had any magical properties that would make it useful in a potion, so you could have ended up in Hufflepuff Sir," Harry added in a helpful tone but with a spark of mischief hidden deep in his eye.

Lucius and Tom looked at each other and sniggered at the look on their friend's face.

Severus paled more than anyone believed he could before turning a slight green colour. "If anyone in this room ever repeats that, I will make them and that stupid hat into potions ingredients!" he threatened.

Harry fluttered his eyelashes at the angery man. "Is that a promise?"

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Hermione yelped.

"That's our Harry," Neville muttered, shaking his head.

"Eww ..." Blaise, Draco and Pansy shuddered.

**Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"He really likes to yell, doesn't he?" Narcissa asked with a look of disgust on her face.

"Yes he does Narcissa. He even has this lovely shade of purple-red that is unique to him as well. I call it 'Harry hater' because he is that shade mainly when he is yelling at me. If he isn't careful, it will become his natural colour," Harry added, nodding to enforce his words.

"I wish he'd hurry up and drop dead of a heart attack!" Hermione snapped, her irritation at the man they were reading about evident on her face.

Everyone looked at anything other than the pregnant teen who was now glaring at everyone for not agreeing with her immediately.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's opposite.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag,**

"A doughnut … for lunch? How … unappetising. I thought he'd get a sandwich or something!" Lucius sneered in disgust at what he was hearing about this particular muggle.

"That's just the way they are," Neville sighed in disappointment. "They've never changed."

"Potter? If they eat like that all the time, then why aren't you the size and weight of a Hippogryph?" Blaise asked, eyes scanning Harry's body for any clumps of fat that could have been hidden away.

"After reading about them for this long, you still expected them to give me any amount of anything that wasn't necessary for me to survive on? You pure-bloods must be stupider then I thought – either that or you are having delusions!" Harry exclaimed without thinking.

Hermione and Luna stifled chuckles as Harry blushed once he realised what it was that he had said.

"And I thought the Orphanage was bad with how I was treated. If what I think his life with the muggles was like is correct, then what I went through at the orphanage was a family picnic," Tom whispered to the other adults in the room.

"Continuing on …" Harry stated with a look towards Tom that made him gulp nervously.

**It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

"**-yes, their son, Harry-"**

**Mr Dursley stopped dead.**

"Don't I wish he did," Harry muttered.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking … no, he was being stupid.**

"WHAT ELSE IS NEW!" the three Gryffindors and lone Ravenclaw shouted at the book, magic crackling around them.

"Remind me to never get on their bad side," Pansy whispered to Blaise and Draco, eyes wide.

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

" My life is bad enough without having stupid names like them!" Harry chocked.

Draco silently agreed with the dark-haired boy

**There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her – if he'd had a sister like that …**

Severus glared at the book.

"A sister like what exactly?' Harry asked icily as if his aunt were in the room with them.

Everyone in the room, including Harry's friends gulp nervously.

**But all the same, those people in cloaks …**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

Hermione burst into tears.

Harry pulled her into his arms. "Hey Hun, what's the matter?"

"He killed them!" Hermione shrilled hysterically. "He ran into them and they died!"

Harry just sighed the sigh of the sleep deprived and motioned for Draco to continue while making himself comfortable cuddled up with the pregnant girl.

Lucius winced in remembrance of what he went through when Narcissa was pregnant with Draco and found he pitied the teen – particularly because it should have been another young man in his place.

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said ain a squeaky vice that made passers-by stare:**

"**Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for you-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

"That … That sounds like Flitwick …" Severus said slowly, deep in thought.

"Hear that Sweetie? The walrus didn't squash the man. Does Professor Flitwick look squashed to you?" Harry asked her quietly while rocking her gently.

"The man not go smoosh?" she hiccoughed.

"No Hun – he didn't." Harry continued to use the softest voice anyone had ever heard him use.

"Don't read any more for a bit. Have a break and a drink. I'll take Hermione to clean up and calm down," Luna stated calmly while helping the exhausted older girl to the room that had just appeared.

" Potter, I said it sounded like Flitwick, not that it was the man," Severus sniped without his usual sarcasm.

Harry squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the headache he could feel forming. "I know that, Sir. What you don't seem to realise is that Hermione is nearly on her fourth month of pregnancy, very hormonal and the only person in this whole rats' dung infested castle that can calm her down when she starts is a 15 year old boy who thinks a sleep-in is a sleep that lasts more then five minutes at a time, can not touch dreamless sleep potion for another eight months due to a high saturation of it in his blood stream and gets homicidal at the drop of a hat when he doesn't need to hide what he really is from the world. Hey Nev, can I have one of them?"

Neville crossed his arms and scowled at the dark-haired teen. "No more coffee today Harry!"

"Please?" Harry pouted.

"No! You've already had five this morning – and on an empty stomach. No you can't have a pepper-up either," he stated, narrowing his eyes.

Harry looked away from the young man with a deeper pout to his lips, until he saw Hermione and Luna walk back into the room.

"'Mione. Neville won't let me have more coffee," he whined, snuggling up to her when she had made herself comfortable.

"You know you should listen to your healer," Hermione said with a small smile on her face at seeing Harry act like the child he never had the chance to be.

"But I want one," he continued to whine.

"Eat that." Neville threw an apple at Harry, who caught it and took a bite of it. Everyone watched in shock as Harry turned a brilliant shade of green and ran towards the bathroom with both hands covering his mouth as he struggled to not throw up what little food he had in his stomach.

Damn that archaic bastard! I thought he would be able to eat small solids at least –" Neville swore under his breath, wishing that he could geld his Headmaster at the very moment. "Luna, can you grab me an apple juice for him?"

Severus eyed Neville with a spark of respect that normally wasn't present in his gaze. "You and I are going to have a chat after this chapter."

"I agree, Sir," Neville stated.

Harry comes back to find a glass of cold apple juice and pouts but takes a sip when Neville glares at him.

"To recap, the fat muggle ran into someone, but they didn't die because of it," Draco announced in an amused tone of voice, looking at Hermione.

Hermione blushed a brilliant red colour. "Shut up, I have an excuse."

**And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

Draco sneered in disgust at what he was reading. He'd never have survived living with someone like that!

" He doesn't approve of imagination?" Narcissa gasped. "What type of parent is he?"

"A bad one!"

"Will you four stop doing that?" Draco whined. "It is freaking me out!"

"What's the matter," Harry began with a smirk on his face.

"Malfoy? Can't handle," Neville continued with the same smirk on his face.

"That we could," smirked Luna.

"give the Weasley," Harry continued, obviously enjoying the look on Draco's face far more than he should.

"Twins a run for," Hermione continued, trying and failing to hide her amusement.

"Their money at being annoying?" The four of them finished together, all with identical smirks on their faces and eyes twinkling harder and brighter than the Headmasters had ever done.

"I'm in hell," Severus stated, squeezing the bridge of his nose much like Harry had done earlier.

"I agree!" chorused Tom, Lucius and Narcissa.

"ARGH! NOT YOU ASWELL!" Draco screamed, hitting himself over the head with the book in his hands.

Pansy and Blaise pat their friend on the shoulder.

"Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes Hermione."

"I'm hungry."

"What do you want? You were in the bathroom for all of morning tea, so I'll ask for something for you. Niffy!" Harry was back to using his gentle voice.

"What can I gets yous?" A high pitched voice said from beside Harry.

"Candied sardine muffins with ketchup and chocolate sauce!" Hermione beamed, her eyes lighting up at the prospect.

"Me's bring it when ready!" the house elf bowed and disappeared in an almost silent pop. Only to appear within seconds.

Everyone but Harry watches Hermione eat her snack with fascinated horror and greenish faces. Harry just watches her eat with amusement, as if he's used to it.

Neville crouched between Draco and his father, therefore situating himself in the centre of the Slytherins that were in the room with them. "Harry is the one she goes to whenever she has a craving," he whispered loud enough for them to hear but not Hermione, "so he's had worse then this to suffer through. Just be thankful that she's now past the ice cream, herring, lettuce and gravy craving."

Nearly everyone shuddered at the thought of such a combination. To everyone's surprise, Lucius was the only one who didn't.

"Narcissa had the same craving with Draco," he explained at their questioning looks.

Draco shuddered in horror. "I think my respect for Potter just rose exponentially."

Blaise nodded frantically in his agreement.

"Any man who voluntarily looks after a pregnant woman when they weren't the one to impregnate her has my respect. They are either very brave, very stupid or have a masochistic fetish the size of a troll's left bullock," Lucius stated without hesitation, believing every word that he said.

"LUCIUS!" Narcissa shrieked in indignation at what came out of her husband's mouth.

"Is there really any difference in any of them three options?" Harry asked, curiously.

Severus chuckled. "Not when you are involved," he teased.

"Typical," Harry pouted.

"Ok, I'm going to continue now!" Draco yelled in a slightly disturbed voice.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"**Shoo!" said Mr Dursley loudly.**

"As if that would get rid of a cat," Pansy sniggered.

"Particularly if it's who I think it is," Neville smirked.

"Who do you think it is?" Blaise asked carfully.

"McGonagal," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

"I told you it was her," Neville said with a smug look.

"How can you tell?" Blaise asked, not being able to help himself.

"Do you know her to look at anyone without being stern?" Luna asked dreamily.

"You have a point there, Miss Longbottom," Severus stated.

**Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (shan't).**

" What a beastly child!" Draco stated, eyes wide in shock.

"Don't tell me that they let him get away with that!" Pansy gasped in disgust.

"Not only did they let him get away with it, they actively encouraged him in doing so," Harry stated with an air of finality.

**Mr Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newsreader allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?**

"**Well Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters …**

Everyone in the room jumped as eerie music filled the room.

Hermione and Harry laughed after they got over the shock. "The x-files theme song! Spooky!"

**Mrs Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er – Petunia, dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr Dursley mumbled. "Owls … shooting stars … and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today."**

"**So?" snapped Mrs Dursley**

"**Well, I just thought … maybe … it was something to do with … you know … her lot."**

**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name 'Potter'. He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so," said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name if you ask me."**

"If only that described my life," Harry muttered mournfully. "I'll never know what it means to be normal."

Pansy looked at Harry in confusion. "Um … Normal like the muggles?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Normal as in being kidnapped by Death Eaters and being raised with Tom as a dad and Nagini my mum."

A strange choking sound seemed to be coming from the four adults in the room.

"Um … Harry?" Neville asked hesitantly. "That isn't normal."

"Shut up Nev, I can dream can't I?" Harry pouted.

"**Oh, yes," Said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did … if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

The sound of chuckling interrupted everyone's thoughts.

"He makes it sound as if your parents were axe-wielding mass murderers, not wizards!" Lucius choked out between chuckles.

"To them, wizards are worse," Neville stated sadly.

Harry smiled dreamily as if seeing something no one else could see. "If they aren't luck, their nephew will be both." He said dreamily.

Severus broke the silence with a whisper that everyone could hear due to the room being so quiet. "And this boy is our world's Saviour? I think I'm scared."

All past and present Slytherins nodded in agreement with the Potions Master's words

"Severus Snape admits to feeling fear! Someone call the Prophet! The apocalypse is coming!" Neville, Hermione and Luna all shouted at once, breaking Harry out of his self-indulgent fantasy and Tom to start laughing again.

Draco watched the trio celebrate getting Harry to snap out of his dreamland with narrowed eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that these four would do really well in the Snake Pit?"

"I think they belong there," Pansy murmured, "maybe more then we do."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Blaise said mournfully. "Just think, three Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw fitting into the house of snakes even more than three of its more outstanding members."

The three Slytherin students shuddered at the thought while the adults all felt ice sliding down their spines.

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind … He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn't affect them …**

"Boy, was he wrong!" Harry said in disgust. "Hey Tom? If I let you possess me again, can you kill the Dursleys and the two younger Weasleys? I think it would be worth an Azkaban sentence!

"Harry, stop making yourself exited. Maybe your future partner should be either a vampire or werewolf – I don't think that anyone else would be able to handle you when you become sadistic," Neville said, exasperated.

"Even the Nargals and crumple-horned snorkacks don't want to come near you when you are like that. Maybe you have attracted something else?" Luna agreed.

"You're right Luna," Hermione stated in a serious voice. "Do you think he's attracting cat-faced fanged trimboblules?"

"Hm. He could be, since they live best on violent thoughts. And Harry, Aldron said he will talk to you as son as he can," Luna snapped out of her thoughts with the last sentence, causing Harry to give her a sad smile and hug himself slightly.

"If there is a God, please kill me now," Severus moaned.

"If he doesn't, can I?" Harry asked, visibly more cheerful than after he got Luna's message.

Lucius and Tom exchanged amused looks with Narcissa, Pansy and Blaise sniggering in the background while Severus stared at Harry in shock.

"No," Severus eventually got the presence of mind to say

Harry folded his arms across his chest and pouted. "Meanie."

**How very wrong he was.**

**Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all**

"Is that a record for the longest stare?" Luna asked in her usual dream-like manner.

Pansy shifted slightly in her seat. "Um, is she serious?"

"Nope! She's Luna. Sirius was killed by drapery - and Bellatrix - Hey Tom? Do you mind if I kill Bellatrix? And Wormtail? You don't? Cool Bananas!" Harry yelled from his side of the room with an over-exuberance that wasn't like him.

"Is insanity contagious? Because I think Potter is suffering from it," Pansy stuttered nervously as she inched further away from the dark haired teen.

"I/He doesn't suffer from insanity. I/He enjoys every moment of it!" Harry and Hermione stated proudly.

"Don't worry about him. He isn't sleeping very well at the moment," Neville sighed, shaking his head and looking at his brother with worry.

The adults all exchanged worried looks.

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped our of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of hie hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes wee light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

Everyone in the room booed, much to the Slytherin's surprise.

~**I wants to eat it. I wants to, I wants to, I wants to! What to eat it with? Ketchup? NO, chocolate! No … Mustard? Hm … maybe he'd be better as a work of art? Yessss, an abstract piece with lots of red and broken pieces~ **Harry purred, not realising that he had slipped into the language of the fork-tongued.

Tom looked at Harry with wide eyes. "And just how are you in Gryffindor?" he asked astounded.

"you'll find out … eventually," Harry smirked.

"And people say that I am the insane one. You are more insane than I am!" Tom exclaimed.

"No, just over tired," Harry chuckled weakly.

"Then after lunch you will be going for a sleep!" Tom scolded, wondering where all these paternal instincts were coming from.

"Why is that, My Lord?" Lucius asked, amused at the older man's behaviour.

"He's debating whether or not Dumbledore would be better as a piece of art or taste better with chocolate, ketchup or mustard!" Tom growled in his own defence, almost smirking at the worried – yet sickened – look on Lucius' face.

"How many times do we have to tell you that you can't eat the Headmaster? Luna, Neville and Hermione sighed. "And also to keep your animagus form under control!"

"He'd probably give you indigestion," Draco muttered under his breath as he passed behind the seat Harry and Hermione were seated at.

Harry poked out his tongue at his three family members and sniggered at what Draco had just said. "You're probably right with that point Malfoy. He'd also probably taste of his damn Sherbet lemons anyway!" he groused.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem t realise he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lap went out with a little pop. He clicked it again – the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. **

**Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"Told you it was her," Neville said, a smug look on his face.

Harry sniffed dismissively at Neville's attitude. "Of course you knew it was her! We had her in our dorms for a week in her animagus form for a week! If that doesn't make you know her immediately in that form than I don't know what will."

Draco and Pansy wrinkled their noses at the same time. "Oh eww, that's gross!"

"Hey! The only reason why she stayed was because she got into the special catnip you were growing Harry!" Neville protested.

Harry shrugged. "It's not my fault that she found the triple strength I'm growing for the twins."

Severus choked on thin air. "So that's where she was for that week? The teaching staff had a lot of trouble trying to find her. She told us that she had been called home for a family emergency and that she had told the headmaster before she left.

Harry looked at Severus in astonishment. "And you actually believed her? She was really going crazy in our dorm room. Pity that Wormtail was long gone from our rooms then. It would have been great for her to eat him, but I guess that seeing her trap Ron in a corner with a spider in her mouth was good enough."

Blaise sniggered quietly, remembering what had happened during their Potion's owl when the vanishing potion the Weasel was supposed to be making actually made the spider his tester had tested it on to grow to the size of a large house cat.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"**How did you know it was me?" she asked**

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

" That is something I don't get." Harry said in confusion, deep in though. "If it happened the night before, then why did they wait for the next night to drop me off?"

"How'd you know it was the night before?" Draco asked, honestly curious about it.

"If it had been that day, then how would the wizarding world know it was safe to celebrate?" Harry responded logically.

Everyone was silent as they processed this.

Narcissa frowned. "I never thought about it. It does seem suspicious that people were partying – and had been partying for quite a while – before you had been dropped off at the muggles place. It isn't that far a distance from Godric's Hollow to just outside of London."

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls … shooting stars … well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"I'll drink to that!" Harry raised a shot glass of amber liquid into the air and downed it in one mouthful without reacting.

"If you're not careful you will be an alcoholic before you leave school!" Hermione scolded.

"What makes you think I'm not one now?" Harry asked, curiosity marking his voice.

"When I refused to give you more dreamless sleep, I didn't mean for you to start on the booze!" Neville glared.

Harry shrugged, unconcerned. "You were the one who told me I had to get some sleep."

"Damn, he's got me there," Neville sighed.

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"I guess they hadn't, but after all, the best night to celebrate is the night that a one year old child was made an orphan and no one does a damn thing about it. "Hey, did you hear? The Potter's died and their son beat You-Know-Who." "Really? Let's celebrate!" pa-the-tic!" Harry growled out, biting off his words.

Lucius frowned, thinking on the words that the light-side's 'saviour' had just spat.

"I never thought of it like that," Narcissa whispered.

"Neither did I," Pansy murmered.

Hermione moved so that Harry's head was in her lap and she started to stroke his head as though he were a cat. "Don't cry Harry."

Harry glared up at her.

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on: "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?"**

"EVEN THEN HE WAS OFFERING THOSE CONFOUNDED CONFECTIONS?" Severus screamed in annoyance.

"Looks that way," Harry shrugged, now with his eyes half-closed as Hermione continued her petting of his hair. "I put a small vial of citric acid into them one day, and he kept on eating them with enjoyment – I don't think he has any tastebuds left."

"**A what?"**

"**A sherbet lemon. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for sherbet lemons. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone –"**

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his proper name.**

"If he says Tom Riddle I will mark him for death," Tom muttered darkly, glaring at the book in the Malfoy heir's hands.

"He's already on mine," Harry announced in a sig-song voice that made everyone look at him incredulously.

"What if he just calls you just Tom or just Riddle?" Luna asked the Dark Lord, her silver-blue eyes holding the curiosity that Ravenclaw house was originally famous for.

"Here is a riddle, a riddle-me-rune. What type of band can't play a tune?" Harry sang softly as he gently rocked himself by hitting the arm of the lounge chair as hard as he could with his foot.

The Slytherins all looked at him with worry evident in their gaze. Was this what happened when you forced a dark – grey at the least – wizard to follow the rules of the light side?

"We plan on giving him back to St Mungo's when we get out of here, or when we tire of him … whichever one comes last," Hermione stated, a fond smile forming on her twitching lips as she looked at the dark head on her lap.

Draco shook his head and looked at the next word and paled.

"It's pronounced 'vol-de-mort' come on, say it with me!" Harry coached in a half-crazed voice.

Draco thrust the book into Harry's hand. "I can't say the name."

"**Voldemort****," **Harry, Luna, Neville and Hermione chorused emotionlessly.

Draco nodded his thanks and continued.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. "it all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who'. I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying …**

"**Voldemort****,**" Neville said.

'**s name."**

"**I know you haven't," said professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know – all right, …**

"For crying out loud Malfoy, just think of it as a French lesson and get on with it!" Harry snapped, making the blonde teen leap out of his seat in shock.

Draco blinks and cringes.

V-v-v-voldemort – was frightened of."

"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."

"He did. The power of thought!" Harry exclaimed brightly.

"Did he just?" Tom asked incredulously

"Yes, My Lord. He did," Lucius confirmed.

"So I'm not hallucinating?" Tom asked to double check.

"If you are, then so are we, My Lord," Severus replied.

"**Only because you're too – well – noble to use them."**

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing to the rumours that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another sherbet lemon and did not answer.**

"**What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night V-voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are – are – that they're – dead."**

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

"**Lily and James … I can't believe it ... I didn't want to believe it … Oh Albus …"**

"Ok … Is it only me who now has bad images going through their heads now?" Harry managed to choke out.

Blaise turned an interesting shade of deep green due to the colour of his skin. "You just had to open your mouth, didn't you Potter?"

"Sorry?" Harry grinned.

"Sure you are, Potter," a pale green Draco moaned.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know … I know …" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, harry. But – he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, V-voldemort power somehow broke – and that's why he'd gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's – its true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done … all the people he's killed … he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding … of all the things to stop him … but how in the name of Heaven did Harry survive?"**

"ACCIDENTALLY!" Tom and Harry yelled together.

"**We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff and he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though because he put it back in his** **pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way."**

"Hagrid can never keep a secret," Hermione chuckled.

"At least, not unless it is Harry that asks him to keep it," Neville grinned.

"If he holds that much loyalty in Hagrid, then there must be something we've missed about the boy. He doesn't even keep the Headmaster's secrets very well, but I've never heard a peep form him concerning Potter," Severus whispered into Tom's ear.

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here of all places?"**

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"**You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore – you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"At least she had the sense to go against the old fool," Severus sighed.

"**It's the best place for him,"**

Neville, Hermione and Luna rushed to cover their ears.

"THAT SHERBET LEMON SUCKING OLD GOAT! THE BEST PLACE FOR ME? I WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PASIFIC OCEAN WITHOUT A SUBMARINE! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM I WILL MAKE SURE THAT HE WON'T BE ABLE TO GO NEAR ANYTHING WITH SUGAR IN IT WITHOUT IT TERRIFYING HIM WHEN I'M DONE WITH HIM!" Harry screamed before grinning disturbedly, his eyes going fully red with only a few specks of green in them. "I wonder what would happen if you melted blood pops and used the resulting liquid as the blood in a blood transfusion. Mmmm, blood pop."

Neville rummages through his bag and pulled out a packet of blood pops and handed one to Harry, who immediately sat down and shoved it into him mouth in silence. "Now shh and have a silent orgasm over it."

"Mmmm," Harry moaned softly, obviously enjoying the intensely red treat.

The adults exchange looks with their eyes the size of dinner plate. How could they have not seen this side of the young man before now?

**Said Dumbledore firmly. 'His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older I've written them a letter."**

"A letter? A LETTER? What does he plan on doing? Leaving the child on the doorstep and leaving?" Lucius said scornfully.

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend – I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our worlds will know his name!"**

"AND THAT'S A GOOD THING WHY? YOU CATNIP OBSSESSED FELINE!" Harry yelled, obviously still not happy with what the headmaster had said.

"And just think – He likes her," Hermione grinned.

Tom and Severus gulp slightly.

"**Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember!**

"That's what he thinks," Harry muttered.

**Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

" As if anyone would ever be ready to face that … EVER!"

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes – yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore? She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she though he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"**Hagrid's bringing him."**

"**You think it – wise – to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"Think he has a death wish?" Hermione whispers to Neville.

Tom chuckled, hearing the question quite clearly.

"I thought you were friends with him?" Pansy asked in confusion.

"We are. But it doesn't mean that we don't know that you do not trust Hagrid with your life," Neville said, smiling at the confused female.

"Yeah. You think you're life is in danger in his class? Try being his friend! It's worse!" Harry groaned, muttering things under his breath and moving his fingers as though he were counting on them.

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to – what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"I'm surprised the wheels didn't explode!" Neville exclaimed.

"No, it still has the same tires as it did back then, not surprising for how long it had been unused," Harry responded with a soft smile at the normally shy teen.

"Where is it now?" Hermione asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"In my vault in Gringotts. Siri gave it to me for Christmas," Harry smiled sadly.

"Remind me to stay away from muggle London," Lucius shuddered.

"Don't you stay away from there anyway?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at the aristocratic man.

Lucius blushed as the other adults chuckled at him.

**If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"I'm surprised he didn't loose you!" Draco said, looking at Harry.

"I wish he had!" Harry scowled.

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorbike?"**

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it me. I've got him, sir."**

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No sir – house was almost destroyed but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

Draco stopped reading with a look of distaste on him face.

"You mean they left you in a destroyed house until he picked you up? Disgusting!" Pansy screeched.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a lightning bolt.**

"**Is that where-?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar for ever."**

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in useful.**

Harry sneered at the book, making Draco tremble slightly. "Yeah. It is a way of identifying you to the public and a reason for you to get no privacy." He grinned without warning, making Blaise yelp softly and Luna to giggle. "That is why an obliviate come in handy. Hm, must remember to send Lockheart a thank you note for teaching me that one."

**I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

" I think I'm going to be sick," Pansy paled.

"I am going to be sick!" Hermione groaned thickly, jumping up off the lounge as soon as Harry sat up. Harry shook his head muttering threats as he followed her out of the room.

"Does that happen often?" Narcissa asked worriedly.

"Elise? How often was Hermione up last night?" Neville asked, sighing in defeat.

The number 5 flashed on the wall Neville was facing.

"And Harry?" he continued, even more defeated.

The wall remained blank.

"ok, how about this? How much sleep – in minutes – did Harry get last night?" Luna asked, standing behind Neville and rubbing his shoulders gently, releasing the tension that had just appeared there in the last few moments.

The number 30 flashed on the same wall.

"THAT'S IT! HE'S GOING TO SLEEP AT LUNCHTIME EVEN IF I HAVE TO HIT HIM OVER THE HEAD WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER!" Neville yelled in frustration.

"So, Longbottom, why do you, Granger and Looney here jump through hoops for Potter?" Draco asked without thinking.

Neville glared at the blonde male then turned to the older Malfoy's with a polite look on his face. "Please forgive me for this" He walked over to Draco and punches him in the jaw as hard as he can before turning and returning to his seat, massaging his hand.

Draco, Pansy and Blaise all looked at Neville in shock, even as a bruise spread across Draco's lower jaw.

"Don't ever speak of Harry like that again, Malfoy, because he's not only deadly himself, but he's taught me, Luna and Hermione how to kill as well. That teen in there is the only one who can control Hermione while she's like this. He has nightmares that would make anyone else try to gouge their eyes out, and he has taken that much dreamless sleep potion that he can't go anywhere near the stuff for eight months if he doesn't want to become addicted to it. He has enough of it in his system to keep a Hippogryph herd under for a week, and all it is doing for him is stopping him from killing someone," Neville hissed dangerously, eyes narrowed at the still staring blonde.

"Mr Longbottom? How bad are his nightmares?" Severus asked the still furious teen.

"We don't know. He never tells us anything that happens in them. All we know is that he says he wouldn't even wish his nightmares on Dumbledore."

"What was that spell he used on Miss Granger last night?" Lucius asked. After all, Malfoys are Slytherins and to a Slytherin, knowledge is power.

"The dream eater spell. Not only did he have his nightmares to contend with last night, he had Hermione's as well. All of us would do anything to let him have at least one night's sleep, but he refuses to let us use it on him," Luna whispered, staring at the doorway which contained two of her family members.

"When he goes for a rest after lunch, I'll use it on him without him knowing. I'll see if I can do anything for him," Severus said determinedly.

"Sir, If I didn't know that you would AK me for doing it, I would be licking your shoes clean right now. Even if you can let him sleep for even an hour deeply, I will do anything – even be the person to test any and all experimental potions you come up with!" Neville gasped out through thankful tears that almost had Severus running for the hills, never to return ... he had thought almost, hadn't he?

Harry and Hermione walked back into the room with Hermione looking a little green. Neville once again rummaged through his bag and gave Draco a bruise balm from his own collection and watched as he put it on.

"What happened?" Harry asked, looking between the two boys with eyes slightly narrowed.

"Professor Snape wanted to look at one of the potions I had and instead of handing it to him, I threw it to him – well – you know my aim. It hit Malfoy instead," Neville lied professionally.

Harry kept his eyes locked onto Neville, not fully believing him. "Ok."

Draco, Pansy and Blaise look at each other with looks of understanding. Their relationship between the four of them was similar to the one the three of them had – but mayhap a bit stronger.

**Well – give him here, Hagrid – we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house.**

"**Could I – could I say goodbye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid.**

**He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall. "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it – Lily and' james dead – an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles-"**

"After what happened with me at the orphanage, he still put Harry with muggles? Is he stupid?" Tom asked incredulously.

"We are still running the experiments, but so far the results are pointing in that direction," Hermione answered with a serious look on her face.

Narcissa, Lucius and Severus couldn't stop the sniggers that escaped them at the girl's words.

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the dorrstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"This little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine, let it shine let it shine let it shine!" Harry sings before looking up at those around him. "What?"

Lucius looks at Tom in shock. "McGonagall is fighting tears. She never cries. Never."

"Dumbles is an old goat. He would never float my boat. He belongs in a striped coat!" Harry sings once more, just ... because.

" YOU NEED SLEEP!" Everyone yells at the teen, many with amused looks on their faces.

"Your point?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

Everyone looks at him as if he were insane – causing Harry to grin at them innocently before once more bursting into song.

"I'M A BOUNCY, BOUNCY KITTEN! I'M A BOUNCY, BOUNCY KITTEN!"

Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Narcissa snigger at the boy's chosen words and the little boppy dance that he was doing in his seat beside Hermione – who had managed to hide her face in her hands and was now shaking her head.

"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "That's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."

"Yeah. Do celebrate now that you've left me in Hell! Go on Piss Off! Shoo!" Harry scowled, making the Slytherin's blink in confusion at how fast his moods changed.

"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. "I'll be taken' Sirius his bike back. G'night Professor McGonagall – Professor Dumbledore, sir."

Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on to the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.

"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.

Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.

"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.

"IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, CLOSE TO WINTER AND THEY JUST LEFT YOU ON THE TOP STEP OF YOUR RELATIVE'S DOOR? ARE THEY INSANE!" Lucius roared, furious.

"Did any of them ever come and see how you were?" Severus questioned, also in shock at their actions.

Harry looked at the man and raised an eyebrow that clearly said 'be serious now'

"I'm guessing not," Tom remarked dryly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Real smart ones, you lot are," he remarked sarcastically.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours time by Mrs Dursleys' scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, not that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley …**

"The story," Luna began.

"Of," Neville continued.

"His life," Hermione finished, hugging her brother close to her.

**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!"**

Draco closed the book and glanced at the four people huddled together. Looking at those around him, he noticed the small signs that indicated that they were upset with how this was going. He didn't blame them. Just reading that small amount of Potter's relatives had the hair on the back of his neck stand up – and it wasn't because they were muggles, either.

Neville sighed. "I'll go and get you something light to eat and then you will be going to sleep for an hour while we have lunch and a break. We won't read any more until you are awake." Neville was released and he went to get some clear broth and a glass of juice for his patient.

Harry ate as much as he could before pushing it away and struggled to stand. In the end, it took both Neville and Severus to get him to the room that Elise had formed for him. He never felt the spell hit him as he drifted off to sleep, nor notice that another room holding a bed had appeared.

Neville and Severus walked out with sighs of relief before Severus walked into the other room – which had a silencing charm on it – to lie down and witness what horror's the boy's mind hid.

Neville sat with a sigh. "It's done. He's asleep and he didn't even notice the spell, that's how tired he is."

Hermione nodded. "We have another problem, Nev."

"What is it Hermione?"

Hermione moved and everyone noticed that she had the parchment from the sitting area with her. "This." She straightened it out so that everyone could read what had been written on it.

THINGS I DID WRONG: Lived, obviously.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Fifteen minutes after he had disappeared into the other room, Severus Snape walked out of it, his face paler then it normally was.

"I wouldn't wish the dreams that he has on anyone, not even the Marauders when they were at their worst." He turned to the two Gryffindors and lone Ravenclaw of the group. "When you decide to deal with the two youngest Weasleys, tell me and I'll come with you. You will need someone there to prevent Harry killing them."

The group nodded and went back to their conversation about what they thought was meant by what Harry had written on his list. Severus helped himself to a sandwich and joined Tom, Lucius and Narcissa.

"How bad was it, Severus?" Narcissa asked him worriedly.

"It's bad, 'Cissa. If these are the dreams that he has every night, then I understand his reaction to Dementors."

The others nodded at his response and went back to their watching of the room's occupants.

Nearly an hour had past when Harry bounced into the room causing Neville, Hermione and Luna to groan and the others to look at them questioningly. "I forgot that when he is overtired and gets a small amount of sleep he is always very hyperactive until he can catch up on the sleep he's missed. You know what that means, don't you Harry?"

"Yes, Neville. It means no sugar, no coffee, nothing sweet and most of all I am to leave you alone."

"Oh Merlin! Potter's gone Hufflepuff!"

"DRACO!" Harry yelled when he heard his voice. "How are you going? Can I sit with you? Can I be your best friend? Can I plait your hair? Can I …" Everyone other then Draco himself struggled to breathe due to their laughter.

"I … I see what y-you mean!" Pansy gasped through her laughter. Potter really HAD gone from being a strange mix of Slytherin and Gryffindor to being a Hufflepuff, and the look on Draco's face was priceless!

"Okay Harry, leave the pretty hair alone, Sweetie. We've got a book to read, remember?" Hermione called when she had calmed down, though it almost made her burst into tears of laughter again when she looked at her blood-brother, who was now braiding Draco's hair after stunning him and talking a mile to the dozen about how lovely his hair was. No one was sure if the blonde-haired Slytherin Prince would ever be the same after this event – even though all in the room, including a reluctant Draco, had to admit that the boy could braid.

"YAY! A STORY!" the black-haired boy yelled before running to Hermione and jumping all around her. "Story, 'Mione!"

"Harry! 'Mione isn't the one who is reading this time, remember? It's Blaise's turn to read," Neville spoke up, mischief in his eyes.

Blaise's eyes widened as the Boy-Who-Lived ran at him and pulled him over to the groups sitting area, bouncing the whole time and chanting, "story time, story time, story time' continuously.

Everyone else followed the pair, Lucius pinching his lips together in an effort to not laugh hysterically at the boy and Severus looking after the boy, whose nightmares he had just witnessed acted like a five year old, without a sneer on his face.

"Alright, is everyone seated and CALM," Blaise stressed as he picked up the book, beyond relieved that Harry was now seated between Hermione and Neville. At everyone's nods, he smiled.

_**Chapter 2 – The Vanishing Glass**_

"I loved that day! It was soooo worth the punishment!" Harry squealed, clapping his hands together excitedly.

"Does he do this often?" Tom asked Neville, watching the teen with a smirk on his face.

"Only until he's caught up on the sleep he needs … and that would be only if he slept for a bout a week straight– which we all hope for."

Tom raised an eyebrow in question.

"He's quiet then and none of us need to worry about him getting into anything that he shouldn't," Luna informed him dreamily when it became evident that Neville would say anything until he was asked verbally

"That I can understand," Tom commiserated.

_**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living-room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.**_

" Sounds boring," Pansy commented in a bored tone of voice.

"Try living there," Harry chirruped.

"Just tell me when you are ready to continue," Blaise said sarcastically.

"Nice of you Blaise," Harry beamed, ignoring the sarcasm. "Does anyone other than me feel sick?"

Neville reached over and handed Harry a glass of nutrient potion in orange juice and stared into Harry's eyes. "Drink that. I know you didn't eat any of the lunch I gave you but you will drink that. You need something in your stomach."

"Thanks Nev," Harry said sheepishly.

"When was the last time you ate, if you didn't eat at lunchtime?" Lucius asked Harry.

"Was it three days ago or four?" Luna asked.

"But we see him eat in the Great Hall at every meal!" Draco asked, extremely confused.

"Ever heard of a thing called a banishing charm?" Hermione sniped.

"Oh," Draco blushed.

Severus sniggered to himself at his godson's reaction.

"If he banishes it, where does it go?" Tom asked, intrigued despite himself.

The four non-Slytherins exchanged amused looks before looking at the older man. "Ronald's plate."

"He wouldn't notice it was there," Severus snorted in bemusement.

"That's why I/he does it," Harry, Hermione and Neville respond.

"You will start eating, young man, even if I need to kidnap you and take you to the Manor and force feed you!" Narcissa ranted.

"Sure. If you want me to bring it all back up. I've only got a small stomach … I think my animagus form is closer linked to my human form then anyone thinks," Harry thought about this for a while, before turning back to Blaise and nodding. Everyone around him were confused by the return of the boy before them rather then the Hufflepuff from before.

"You get used to the swapping of emotions eventually. Next time he might just join Hermione for a cry, just because it will keep her company," Neville stated into the silence, rolling his eyes.

_**Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bobble hats – but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blonde boy riding his first bicycle, on a roundabout at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house too.**_

Everyone but Harry growled at the book. Harry smirked. Maybe this unexpected and slightly unwanted meeting was exactly what the mediwitch called for.

_**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.**_

"_**Up! Get up! Now!"**_

Harry shuddered. "Take the banshee from Seamus' boggart and times it be 7 and you have Petunia Dursley before she shrieks.

Everyone else in the room winced at the noise that they imagined.

_**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**_

"_**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**_

Everyone looked at Harry in shock.

"What?"

"I know that you have told us that you have a good memory, Harry, but just how good were you meaning?" Hermione asked in a soothing voice.

"Good enough to know that my first word caused Sirius to pout, Remus to laugh and mum and dad argue," he smirked.

"What was it?" Draco asked in confusion, trying to imagine what word could get a husband and wife that sounded like they loved each other til the end of the earth to argue.

"I pointed to a picture of the Professor over there and said 'Evie'," Harry smirked.

Severus felt his jaw hit his chest in shock. "My name was your first word? How did you know it?"

Harry smiled at his professor. "Every time that mum went through the family photos she would point to you and tell me that that was my Uncle Sev."

Severus nodded and cleared his throat which had something obstructing it for some unknown reason.

Tom smiled softly at one of the people he could honestly say was a member of his family.

_**His aunt was back outside the door.**_

"_**Are you up yet?" she demanded**_

"_**Nearly," said Harry.**_

"_**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**_

_**Harry groaned.**_

"_**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**_

"Did you burn it?" Tom asked, looking at Harry with an intense gleam in his eye.

"Do I look like a ghost to you?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You do look a little pale," Draco joked.

Harry laughed in surprise. "No, I just added extra pepper and a dash of chilli sauce.

Everyone laughed at Harry's revenge.

"_**Nothing, nothing …"**_

_**Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**_

"WHAT!" The Slytherins yelled.

"I was hoping that my room wouldn't come into it," Harry sighed.

"Your ROOM?"

"The cupboard under the stairs was his room until he was almost 11," Hermione scowled, wiping away the angry tears that were falling down her cheeks.

Harry rolled his eyes and hugged Hermione to him, rocking her gently until she stoped crying.

_**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had got the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – unless of course it involved punching somebody.**_

" Charming young man, your cousin," Narcissa drawled sarcastically, nose wrinkled in disgust.

_**Dudley's favourite punch-bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**_

Tom looked at Harry. "I want to kill your family."

Harry pulled a long piece of parchment out of a hidden draw in the table and wrote something on it before hiding it again.

"What was that?" he asked.

"The list of people who want to kill the Dursleys," Neville said absent-mindedly as he once more rummaged through his bag. "You seem to be number 206."

"Who's first?" Lucius asked with a smirk.

"Harry."

_**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's and Dudley was about four times bigger then he was.**_

"You had to wear his clothes?" Lucius asked in disgust.

"Yep."

"And you lived with that for ten years?" Tom questioned, incredulously.

Harry grinned sardonically. "Nope. Make it nearly 16 and you've got it right."

"You mean this treatment they give you continues even after you found out you were a wizard?" Draco asked, horrified.

"Yep."

Narcissa scowled at the book in Blaise's hands, seemingly trying to will it into flames.

_**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair and bright-green eyes. He wore round glasses held tighter with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.**_

"Charming description. Remind me to book a plastic surgeon – but to stay away from Michael Jackson's," Harry commentated sarcastically.

Hermione giggled at Harry, who mock glared at her.

"What's a plastic surgeon?" Pansy asked tentatively.

"A muggle doctor who changes how you look by adding and removing fat, bone, skin and occationally plastic and metal to your body," Hermione said, sounding much like the bookworm that she is.

"What the hell does he need that for? He's pretty ok looking at the moment – sure, I wouldn't go for him personally, but I know a lot of witches and even wizards who would," Pansy frowned in thought.

"Who's 'Michael Jackson'?" Draco asked, thinking the name sounded familiar but couldn't place it.

"OH MY GOD!" Harry squealed. "You don't know who Michael Jackson is? You poor poor thing! He is just simply the absolute best Muggle singer in the world. He's a great dancer as well! Hey, Elise? Can you play 'Thriller'?"

The wall across from the door darkened and played the entire Thriller film clip, pausing when Harry pointed to the man who was singing.

"That is Michael Jackson," Harry stated while the music started again and he started to dance along.

"If you like this bloke, then why don't you want to go to his plastic surgeon?" Blaise asked, confused out of his mind.

"Because I think he could have done better then the surgeon he has. If he had gone to a different one, then the accident he had might not have happened," Harry explained slowly, as though he were talking to a small child.

"If you can't tell, he's a big Michael Jackson fan," Hermione stated, patting Harry's hair once more.

"You don't say," was muttered sarcastically around the room.

_**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**_

"You liked the scar?" Tom asked, choking on the water he had just swallowed.

"Before I found out that it meant that I would never get privacy."

Tom shrugged. "Fair enough."

_**He had had it as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had got it.**_

"_**In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."**_

"A CAR CRASH!" Severus bellowed, rage pouring out of every pore on his skin.

"You weren't allowed to ask questions?" Lucius asked, frowning in disapproval.

"Nope."

"So that is one of the reasons you have a problem with authority figures," Severus muttered, his anger still present.

"Yeah, one of them. I have a feeling you'll be getting the rest of the reasons eventually."

_**Don't ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**_

_**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**_

"_**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**_

_**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts tan the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.**_

"Speaking of hair – Hey, Malfoy. Know of anything I can do with this mop?" Harry asked, pointing to his hair. "It stays like this even when it is long."

"Hm … one day you should come over to the manor and we'll see what we can do," Draco pondered, finger over his lips and eyes narrowed in thought.

"Okay."

"Am I dreaming?" Pansy whispered to Blaise.

"No. I believe that Hell just froze over," Blaise whispered back.

_**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large, pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes and thick, blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel – Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**_

Everyone in the room laughed softly at this. It was the lack of loud laughter that further convinced the Slytherins in the room that the three Gryffindors before them were not all they appeared.

"Who would have thought the thoughts in the head of the Gryffindor Golden Boy would be so amusing," Blaise teased, eyes sparkling with mischief.

"And disturbing," Tom added, seriously.

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

"That's what I'm are afraid of," Severus, Lucius and Narcissa responded with a slight groan.

_**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**_

"_**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. 'That's two less then last year!"**_

" Don't tell me they … no. No parent could do that …" Narcissa gasped in horror.

"If you're talking about getting Dudley more presents to keep him from becoming angry, then yes, they could," Harry said, bitterly.

"_**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**_

"_**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**_

"So that's why you either eat really fast, or don't eat at all," Neville announced, enlightenment colouring his voice.

"No. That started the year after," Harry denied.

"Bullshit!" Hermione mock sneezed. "If it hadn't been for me and the twins, you would have only eaten only enough to survive!"

Tom looked between the two of them with an odd look on his face.

"If we have finished talking about my eating habits," Harry started in disgust.

"Or lack thereof," Severus cut in smoothly.

"We can continue," Harry finished, glaring at the man.

"Do you think it is possible for anyone to AK anyone with their eyes?" Draco whispered to Blaise and Pansy, eyes on Harry who was still trying to get his godfather to combust spontaneously.

"If anyone could do it, it would be him," Pansy whispered back.

"Honestly, I don't want to find out. It's scary enough that when he gets angry his eyes go AK green," Blaise shuddered.

I will have to agree with you on that Mr. Zabini," chorused, Lucius and Narcissa.

_**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?**_

" Popkin?" Draco asked incredulously. He locked eyes with Blaise and Pansy before all three of them burst into laughter.

"I can't believe that just happened! Does that child rule that house?" Narcissa growled.

Yes, yes he does," Harry answered her solemnly.

_**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.**_

"It probably was," Harry agreed with his past self's thoughts.

_**Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty … thirty …"**_

"The boy is 11 and doesn't even know how to add? Is he a simpleton?" Lucius managed to grind out between clenched teeth. These muggles were making muggle look even worse than even HE knew they were.

"No, he isn't. He is so intelligent that he makes Crabbe and Goyle seem like they belong in Ravenclaw," Harry said with conviction.

Severus blinked in confusion. "Did that make sense to anyone?"

Tom chuckled at the potions master. "Yes, it does. It is an insult disguised as a compliment – particularly if you say it to a muggle's face – they don't understand that Ravenclaw is the house of the bookwise intelligent."

Draco chuckled, knowing just how much of an insult that was.

"_**Thirty-nine sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**_

"_**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**_

_**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**_

"_**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**_

"No, he's a bastard, just like his father. Next time I see him, I will force my every memory of his father into his head, as well as some of the things I will do to him, and watch him slowly loose his mind," Harry said in a voice so sweet that it made everyone else in the room cringe.

"Is he all there in the head?" Tom whispered to Neville, hoping the black-haired teen couldn't hear him. He wasn't going to admit it out loud, but he was starting to feel scared of the boy.

Yes, he just likes thinking up different torture techniques. I do believe the one he had planned for Ron was using feathers on the part that got Hermione in trouble. He can make anything into a torture device. I'm sure that you could learn things off him, Mr Riddle," Neville whispered back, a slight smirk on his face as though he understood the Dark Lord's thoughts on his friend.

_**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, the cine-camera, a remote control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games and a video recorder. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**_

"_**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction**_

"Is that how they always spoke of you?" Pansy asked, outraged.

Harry nodded absent-mindedly, mind still running through the different things he would do to Dudley if he were giving half a chance.

"Why?" Blaise asked.

"Why do the Slytherins hate me so much more then the other Gryffindors?" Harry answered dreamily.

Blaise blushed at the stupidity of the question he had just asked.

"Once more, you have a point there," Draco and Pansy groused.

_**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**_

"_**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty again.**_

"I don't blame you," Severus shuddered. "Hang on … You weren't the reason for her breaking her leg were you?"

Harry rolled his eyes at the comment and proceeded to ignore the Potions Professor.

"_**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**_

"_**Don't be silly, Vernon. She hates the boy."**_

_**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**_

"_**What about what's-her-name, your friend – Yvonne?"**_

"_**On holiday in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**_

"Me thinks someone is jealous," Hermione grinned evilly.

"_**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer.)**_

"Very Slytherin, Mr Potter," Lucius smirked.

Harry smirked back at the man before smiling innocently at Narcissa when she looked over at him intently.

_**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**_

"_**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**_

"_**I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**_

"_**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car."**_

Narcissa scowled at the book, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"This is what his life was like? I had no idea that it was like this, not even after the Occulmancy lesson from earlier this year," Severus whispered, guilt ridden.

Narcissa gaped at him. "Really? That's not like you, Sev."

"It's because you were too intent at seeing me as my father and not as who I am," Harry pointed out helpfully – and a bit too cheerfully.

Severus looked away from the bright green eyes of his student in guilt.

"_**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone …"**_

Tom threw a disgusted look at the book that Blaise held. How the Hell could any adult treat a child this way. Admittedly some of the ladies in the orphanage had treated him that way, but Harry was a member of their family!

_**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying, it had been years since he'd really cried, but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**_

Hermione moved until she could curl up on Harry's lap and cuddled into him as everyone in the room turned sad and pitying eyes on him.

Harry sighed, exhaustion colouring his voice. "Can we just get this over with? I feel like I'm going to need to hurt someone or cry and if I cry, then I'm going to have to kill everyone who sees it – except you Hun, you stay right where you are. He rocked Hermione, softly humming in her ear as tears streamed down her face.

Tom raised an eyebrow at the two of them –not that either of them took any notice of it.

Blaise felt his eyes widen and quickly tried to find the word he was up to in the story.

"_**Dinky Duddydums",**_

Blaise struggled not to laugh as he read the words in front of him.

_**Don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**_

"_**I … don't … want … him … t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother arms.**_

"If that kid doesn't have mental problems, I don't know who would," Draco muttered.

"He'll have more then just mental problems when I'm done with him … and they won't even be able to see a mark on him," Harry mumbled.

"Ok, Harry, I think you and I had better have a talk a little later on, alright?" Tom said gently, as though he didn't want to disturb the boy.

Harry beamed "Sure Tommy! What about?"

"His homicidal tendencies, that's what," Severus whispered to Lucius and Narcissa.

Narcissa nodded her head with her lips in a straight line, not trusting herself to open her mouth.

_**Just then the doorbell rang – "Oh, Good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically – and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**_

**~I want's to eat him. Here ratty, ratty, ratty. Come to Sssselthian**~ Harry hissed, smacking his lips in anticipation of his imagined snack.

~**who is Ssselthian?~ **Tom hissed back.

**~My name in one of my animagussss formssss~ **Harry replied, still licking his lips.

"You two stop talking in the snake tongue and pay attention so we can get back to the story!" Neville groaned, itching to throw a pillow at the two of them.

~Y**essss Ssssir~** The two of them smirk at the same time, causing everyone to fidget.

Neville threw his hands into the air with a growl of impatience.

_**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**_

"_**I'm warning you,' he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's.**_

" I'm sure that the appearance of that colour is an indication of high blood pressure," Harry mused.

Luna, Hermione and Neville turned to him. "Shh!"

"_**I'm warning you now, boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.**_

"If only they were that lucky!" Harry smirked, his eyes shining with sadistic mirth

"_**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly …"**_

_**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**_

_**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**_

_**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barber's looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his fringe, which she left 'to hide that horrible scar'. Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and sellotaped glasses. Next morning, however, he had got up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**_

_**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange bobbles). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a glove puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief Harry wasn't punished.**_

"Thank Merlin!" Neville groaned.

"Were you punished every time you had an accidental magic outburst?" Draco asked, feeling slightly sorry for his class mate.

"I was punished when my cousin did something wrong, so what do you think?" Harry asked, voice hard.

Narcissa thinned her mouth until no one could see her lips in her disapproval of the way Harry had been treated.

_**On the other hand, he'd got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big bins outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**_

Severus spluttered in shock. "You … apparate … how?"

"Translation. How did you manage to apparate?" Lucius chuckled at his old friend.

"How much magical power do you have, Harry?" Narcissa asked, deep in thought.

Harry shrugged. "I have no idea."

"What do you mean you have no idea?" Pansy squeaked.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Harry said slowly.

"We will remedy that as soon as we can Mister Potter. Every child who attends Hogwarts is supposed to be taken to a healer or to their family solicitor to discover their power base on or after their eleventh birthday," Severus stated, comfortable now that he could slip into his teaching persona.

"I agree with that Severus," Tom nodded. "I was taken to a healer by Dumbledore because he was the one to tell me I was a wizard. Didn't you get taken?"

Harry shook his head with a deep sigh. He truly loved the school grounds keeper dearly, but he had such a bad memory!

_**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard or Mrs Figg's cabbage-smelling living-room.**_

_**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: People at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects.**_

"I don't think that muggle likes you Potter," Draco mused out loud.

"Der," Hermione and Luna intoned.

"AND IT'S HARRY GOD DAMN YOU!" Harry bellowed, annoyance on his face.

Draco blinked in shock at the shouted words.

_**This morning it was motorbikes.**_

"…_**roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorbike overtook them.**_

"_**I had a dream about a motorbike," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**_

Everyone in the room winced as those words left Blaise's mouth

_**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beetroot with a moustache, "MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!"**_

Dudley and Piers sniggered.

"_**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**_

_**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions it was his talking about anything acting in a way it should, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**_

"As if you need help to get dangerous ideas!" Hermione and Severus snapped – Hermione with more than a little amusement lacing her words, softening the blow.

"You have the best mind at coming up with them yourself," she continued while the potions master gaped at her in disbelief.

"Thank you for the compliment," Harry smirked, giving the two of them a shallow bow from his seat.

"Um, My Lord?" Lucius stammered. "I don't think you need to convert Potter to the Dark side."

"No, I don't think I do – but he seems more a dark shade of grey then Dark," Tom admitted, interested despite himself.

"Grey is my favourite colour," Harry hummed.

Everyone stared at him, before shrugging and turning back to the book.

_**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice lolly. It wasn't bad either,**_

"NO!" Harry yelled, panicking. "I'm not turning into the senile old coot! I'M NOT, I'M NOT I'M NOT!" He whimpered and curled up into a small ball on the seat.

"And I thought I was a Drama Queen," Draco announced without thinking, causing everyone to laugh.

"And how would you react if you were seeing similarities between you and Dumbledore?" Neville gasped out in between breaths.

Draco flushed and looked away from the group, making everyone laugh harder.

"His point exactly," Luna grinned, teasingly.

_**Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head and looking remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**_

Hermione gasped in disbelief. "Do NOT insult gorillas!"

"I wasn't trying to – It was just an observation. I know that it could have passed all the exams that Dudley failed." Harry defended himself.

"And were you allowed to pass them Mister Potter?" Severus asked in his silky smooth voice.

"I wasn't allowed to be smarter then Diddy Duddydums, so I didn't try," Harry sneered.

_**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunch-time, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbockers glory wasn't big enough, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**_

_**Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**_

"Why is it that I can smell accidental magic ahead?" Lucius stated.

"Could it be that you are the head of one of the oldest wizarding families left in Briton and you yourself are a father to a wizard?"asked Harry sarcastically.

Narcissa giggled softly at her husband's playful glare.

_**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in here, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a dustbin – but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**_

_**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**_

"_**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**_

"_**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the sake just snoozed on.**_

"_**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**_

_**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He won't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse then having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up – at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**_

_**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's**_

_**It winked.**_

_**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked too.**_

_**The snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley, than raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quiet plainly: 'I get that all the time.'**_

"_**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**_

_**The snake nodded vigorously.**_

"_**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**_

_**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**_

_**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**_

"_**Was it nice there?"**_

_**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?**_

_**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR DRUSELY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**_

_**Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.**_

"_**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened – one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**_

_**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out on to the floor – people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**_

_**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come … Thanksss, amigo."**_

"Y-you set a snake l-loose? Wish I could have seen that!" Tom gasped through his laughter.

"Elise?" Harry asked, a smirk forming on his lips.

The same wall as before brightened and revealed the memory from beginning to end as if it were in a pensieve.

By the end of it, everyone was laughing just as hard as Tom was.

"That was great!" Draco gasped.

"Did you tell the twins about this?" Neville chocked.

Harry smirked at him.

"You didn't?" Hermione said, a smile finding it's way onto her lips.

"They are now trying to find a way to make it into a prank – and you can choose between a snake or spider," Harry admitted, a smug smile playing on his lips.

Hermione playfully slapped him on the shoulder.

"You still love me," he teased the bushy-haired girl, happy that she appeared to be out of her hormonal funk.

_**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**_

"_**But the glass," he kept saying, "Where did the glass go?"**_

_**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong sweet tea while he apologised over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you,** **Harry?"**_

"Hey Tom?" Harry asked in a small voice.

"Yes?"

"Does Nagini still eat people?"

"When she can get them, yes," Tom answered, deciding to be as honest as possible.

"Can I borrow her? I promise to give her back and not to break her," Harry begged.

"What do you want her for?" Tom asked, amused.

"I thought she'd like to have a few human meals for a change – but if you rather she not, then I'll find someone else to do it." Harry said very fast.

"Will they struggle?" Tom asked after a little while.

"If not then I can make them," Harry said eagerly.

"She's yours for as long as you want her," Tom smiled.

Harry beamed and hugged the man without thinking. "Thanks!"

Everyone in the room shuddered and tried to hide their grins at the look on Tom's face when Harry hugged him.

Blaise cleared his throat. "Moving on …"

_**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go – cupboard – stay – no meals," before he collapsed into a chair and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**_

_**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**_

"No wonder I can never catch you after curfew! You've had practice!" Severus groaned.

"No offence, Professor, but do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to stay in a place where you are patrolling?" Harry said, looking at the dark eyed man as though he were an idiot.

_**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision; a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**_

_**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look**_

"Do you know how much trouble that got me into?" Harry complained.

"I can just guess," Pansy commiserated.

"Can I join that list of yours?" Draco asked, really hating Harry's muggle relatives.

"Sure! I've made a deal with the Minister. If I can get over 300 wizarding names on the list, when it comes time for them to die, the person – or people – who are responsible for it won't get sent to Azkaban.

"And how did you get Fudge to agree to that?" Lucius asked curiously.

Harry smirked at the older blonde. "I told him that if he didn't I'd tell the Prophet that he liked his sexual conquests to be far younger than was acceptable and give photo evidence of the fact." Harry made his eyes go large and innocent with tears of earnestness shinning in the corners. "I'd never lie about something as serious as that ... honest."

"Why aren't you in Slytherin?" Severus asked, astounded.

"You'll see, eventually."

_**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**_

"RIGHT! When you decide to let us out of here, I am going to follow you home and kidnap you!" Narcissa raged.

"Make sure it's believable. I want the old fart to have a heart attack," Harry said without hesitation.

"Mrs. Malfoy? Can I come too?" Hermione asked in a small voice.

"How about all of you come and spend the Summer holidays with us, then we can sort through a few things," Lucius offered.

"Sounds good to me," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville said, matching grins on all of their faces.

The group stood and stretched, relieving tense muscles. To everyone's shock, Harry had gotten up from his seat, sat behind Draco and started to re-braid his hair, this time starting from the very front of his head. Most of the people in the room were amazed at the speed at which he worked. Hermione and Luna smiled as they watched him work.

"Do you think you would be able to do that for both Luna and myself, Harry?" Hermione asked when he was three-quarters done.

"Sure Hun. I'll finish Draco's, get Niffy to bring in a tea service and while you are all having tea, I'll do your hair, then Luna's. Oh, this will help you from getting mussed hair while you sleep. It helps 'Mione, so it should help you as well, Draco.

Draco blinked in surprise. "Thanks Pot … er … Harry."

"No problems. Oh, and Tom? After we've had a cuppa, I want to go through one more chapter before going to bed. Did you want to have that talk after the chapter before we go to bed, or would you like to wait til morning?"

"Actually, we can have it now. With these nightmares of yours, I was wondering why you don't join with Hogwarts and get her to handle them."

"Because if I did that, then Elise will get a slightly darker aura about her, and I don't want that. For her purpose, she is perfect."

Tom nodded. "Well then. In that case, I have a proposition for you. You give me a chance and listen to what I've got to say about my side in this war, and I'll handle the nightmares for you every second night so you can catch up on sleep that you need. I guess I can safely assume that most of the nightmares you have are of my own doing, so I will be able to handle them better then most – I might even see some things that I missed before. I will also agree to not attacking the people that you are close to, even if you do not join my side in the war. Do we have a deal?"

Harry tied Draco's hair off, deep in thought. "I think we do have a deal, Tom. I have a feeling that you will not have to go far to convince me to your side, but I would like to know what you stand for, why you deviated from it and what changes you will enforce if we join you. NIFFY!"

A loud pop made the Malfoy Patriarch jump.

"Yes, Mr Potter, Sir?"

"Could you bring us a tea service for 11 up?"

"Right away Mr Potter, Sir!"

"Thank you Niffy. Now, 'Mione. Sit up a bit so I can do your hair for you before the next chapter begins. Oh, and Luna on the sheet of parchment that I know you have can you add the number 2 and write "Didn't ask the snake to attack any of the Dursleys before he left." Please?"


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

Harry had just finished brushing Hermione's hair when Niffy arrived with the tea service.

"Is there anything else that Niffy can do's for you, Mr Potter, Sir?"

"Yes. I'm going to be cooking from now on for these rooms so don't worry about the meals for here, can you just bring us some things and put it in the kitchen that will appear after we all go to bed?"

The elf nodded and disappeared. Harry sighed in relief.

"I see they aren't arguing with you anymore about cooking," Neville said after everyone had a cup of tea in front of them.

"No, they aren't. I think it had something to do with me threatening to sic Hermione on them with her knitted clothes that finally got them to stop … but then one of them tasted something I made myself and they have been bugging me for recipe ideas!"

Neville laughed. "You just can't seem to win, can you?"

Harry pouted. "No, I can't." Putting pins into Hermione's hair, he took a sip of his tea and moaned in delight. "They may be annoying as hell, but boy can they make a good cuppa."

Tom fingered his cup, deep in thought. The more he discovered about his enemy's life, the more he felt like he'd been played for a fool. If anyone should be able to tell if someone's home life wasn't any good, it should be him, but here he was trying to kill someone who's life at home was worse then his at the Orphanage. At least there he had the 'help' of some of the adults there. He jumped when Lucius cleared his throat.

"Milord? I am about to start this chapter now."

Tom nodded and looked around the room. Lucius and Narcissa were seated on a lounge with Narcissa's head on her husband's thigh, his fingers running through her hair. Draco, Pansy and Blaise were seated together on another lounge next to the older Malfoys. Severus was beside him sitting on the same type of armchair that he was seated in. The Longbottom boy and the Lovegood girl were sitting together on a love seat, while Harry was perched on what looked to be an uncomfortable stool while he continued on with his friend's hair.

Lucius cleared his throat again.

_**Chapter 3 – The Letters from No one**_

Lucius chuckled at the title, getting having a fair idea about what this chapter would be about.

"You have no idea at how much Minerva complains about signing those letters!" Severus groaned, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Why doesn't she charm a number of quills to hover over a bunch of letters and copy her hand movements when she uses the Master quill?" Hermione asked drowsily, the feeling of Harry playing with her hair relaxing her to the point of her going to sleep.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Severus asked, shaking his head in bemusement.

"You should have. You are the only other wizard I know other then Hermione who I know has logic," Harry said, now focused on Luna's hair.

"Um … Did Potter …" Blaise began.

"IT'S HARRY PEOPLE! It's not that hard to say!" Harry barked.

"Fine. Did Harry just compliment Professor Snape?" Blaise snapped.

"I think he did," Pansy said slowly, thinking through her memory of it.

"It's not that surprising, really. He's always standing up for him to the Gryffindors," Neville said, rolling his eyes.

The Slytherins in the room blinked at the sandy-hair boy in confusion. Why hadn't they heard of this before now?

"Remember what he did to Peeves when he found out he was targeting the Slytherins?" Luna said, smiling dreamily at those in the room with her.

Harry, Hermione and Neville looked at the blonde girl. "Shh!"

"What did he do?" Severus said in his most dangerous voice.

"We'll tell you before we go to bed Sir," Hermione said. "If we don't get that far, then we will tell you."

"You had better," he said smoothly.

_**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of the cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new cine-camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane and, first time on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**_

"The more I hear about that boy, the less I like him!" Narcissa scowled.

"Arabella Figg? The Squib?" Severus asked.

Harry sneered. "Yes. She was my 'Dumbledore approved' Babysitter."

"And did she know about your home life?" Lucius asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry nodded. "Yep."

"Please say you're kidding," Blaise begged.

"Do you see him/me laughing?" Harry, Hermione Luna and Neville asked.

Tom crossed his arms and scowled darkly at the book. It seemed that his life wasn't the only one that Albus 'have a sherbet lemon' Dumbledore screwed up.

_**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite sport: Harry Hunting.**_

"Harry, I want them muggles." Tom growled, shaking in rage.

"Sorry Sweetie, but you can't have them," Harry responded in a sweet voice.

"Sweetie?" Draco whispered, wondering if the Golden Boy had finally lost whatever hold on his sanity that he'd had.

"And why not?" Tom asked dangerously.

Harry smiled indulgently. "You promised me that I could sic Nagini onto them."

Tom blinked stupidly at the raven-haired youth, ignoring the chuckles that were coming from the other two young lions.

"Never try to out mauver our Harry," Neville chuckled. "You will never win."

Lucius, Tom and Severus raised an eyebrow at the possessive tone in Neville's voice.

"Harry belongs to us," Luna explained.

"Just as they belong to me," Harry continued, giving them a fond smile.

None of the people outside their relationship knew what to say, so they all looked at Lucius and waited for him to continue.

_**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had a place at Uncle Vernon's old school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High – the local comprehensive. Dudley thought this was very funny.**_

"That cousin of yours has an odd sense of humour," Draco huffed. There was nothing funny about going to school.

"_**They stuff people's heads down the toilet first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**_

"_**No thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it – it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work our what he'd said.**_

"You didn't," a gob-smacked Lucius asked.

Harry smirked in response.

"And what happened?" Tom asked, amusement visible on his face.

"Nothing," Harry said in disgust. "He didn't end up getting what I said. What a waste."

Severus chuckled darkly. "I think I could get to like this new Harry Potter."

"Well, I already respect you as a bastard, Sir – Maybe that could grow into me liking you as a bastard to," Harry retorted.

Everyone looked at Harry in shock and blinked dazedly at him.

Neville clapped his hands in a slow, sarcastic rhythm. "Way to go, Harry. Just kill them all with shock."

"If they haven't died of shock from Dumbledore's choice of robes, then nothing I could do will kill them," Harry shrugged negligently.

"That's true," Luna sighed.

"Thank you ... I think?" Severus said, still blinking dopily.

_**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs Figg's. Mrs Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before.**_

"See, he wasn't the one responsible for her leg," Neville said to his potions professor.

"What can I say – She's a Klutz!" Harry shook his head.

"As bad as Tonks?" Severus perked up with a hint of a smile.

"No one is as clumsy as her. I don't know how she managed to get through auror training – or even becoming a member of the Order." Harry rolled his eyes.

Everyone looked at Harry in shock once more.

"How … How can you speak of it? Everyone who knows anything about it can't speak of it." Severus whispered in awe.

Harry blinked at the potions master. "Knows anything about what? The Order?"

Everyone nods in response to his question and Harry grinned. "Hey, 'Mione. You know that buzz from a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I think that was me destroying another one of Dumble's charms he had on me. Hey! Think I can convince Fawkes to leave the old coot?" Harry asked excitedly.

"I'm not going to say anything about what you can and can't do, Harry. You know that," Hermione said in frustration.

"Yeah. For all we know, you already have Fawkes spying on the Headmaster for you," Luna added in.

"Damn!" Harry pouted.

"That means he has," Neville told the confused audience with a smirk.

"I'm sure we'd all like to understand what it is you are talking about," Narcissa stated.

"Harry," Hermione, Neville and Luna said simply, as though that should answer all their questions.

The Slytherins shook their heads in resignation. Gryffin's - Not a thing you could do with them ... Unless you were a Raven by looks.

_**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**_

"Please say you didn't eat it," Pansy begged, turning green.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the girl, asking her if she was kidding.

"Something you should all know about Harry is that," Hermione started.

"He has a big sweet tooth," Neville continued.

"And getting between him and chocolate," Luna said seriously.

Neville quickly added, "Or blood pops!"

Luna nodded, "Or blood pops."

"Is the best way to put your life at risk," Hermione finished. All three had looks of uttermost seriousness on their faces.

"Come on, I'm not that bad!" Harry whinned.

All three of them raised an eyebrow at him and without warning a table appeared on the other side of the room full of chocolate.

"MINE!" Harry hissed and started to attack anyone who got too close to the table. After a few moments, the table is removed – along with all the chocolate.

Harry looked at the spot that the table was just a few seconds ago and pouted with tears appearing in his eyes.

"You were saying?" Neville, Luna and Hermione chorused smugly.

None of the Slytherins could believe what their eyes had just seen. Never before had they seen anybody act like that.

Harry looked at his three friends and felt tears welling up in his eyes. His bottom lip wobbled slightly and he gave a piteous, heart-breaking mewl. "Mine?"

All three of Harry's friends sigh and hand him a chocolate frog each.

"Can I have a hug?" Harry sniffled, still looking at them with his tear-filled eyes.

Once more the three friends gave in and hugged Harry as a group.

Harry smirked and winked over Hermione's shoulder at the group of awed Slytherins

Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Severus and Lucius felt their jaws drop at how masterfully Harry had manipulated his friends.

Tom attempted the hide his sniggers while Narcissa tried to suppress the laughter that she could feel bubbling up from her stomach.

Neville hit Harry across the back of the head softly. "We saw that," he grumbled.

Harry nibbled on one of the chocolate frogs. "So? I got what I wanted." He threw himself into Hermione's arms and hugged her as hard as he dared before looking up into her eyes. "Tank oo 'Mione. I wiked da chocowate."

Hermione, Neville and Luna just closed their eyes and shook their heads. They should be used to this type of thing from their brother by now.

Tom once more attempted to hide his sniggers from the room – and failed dismally

_**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living-room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**_

"Hey Mister Malfoy, did you ever go to that school at all?" Harry called out, an impish grin on his face.

Lucius looked at him in confusion. "No, why?"

"Oh … I just thought that if you had then it would have done much to explain why you carry that cane around. I guess it must be a pimp prop after all," Harry answered in such a way that it took everyone a little while to understand what he had just said.

Lucius flushed a brilliant red colour in embarrassment and tried to hide his face behind his hair.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT! AND TO LORD MALFOY OF ALL PEOPLE!" Hermione yelled, giving off a fair imitation of Molly Weasley at her most furious.

Severus was doubled over on the floor, having fallen out of his seat with laughter.

"You'd think that by now I'd have learnt that you are in Gryffindor for a reason," Neville said mournfully as he handed over a large container of saffron threads.

"Even if it wasn't a dare, then I'd have asked him about it," Harry shrugged. "I've always liked that cane."

"I think I'm getting a headache," Lucius said and he squeezed his temples with his finger tips.

Neville opened his bag and retrieved a headache potion for the Malfoy Lord without thinking.

_**As he looke at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**_

Harry sighed happily "Ah, the good old days. What I wouldn't do to have a picture of Dudley in that uniform now." He took a bite out of the chocolate frog that he had been nibbling on, unwittingly teasing one of the rooms younger occupants.

A chime was heard and Harry looked up and choked on the chocolate in his mouth. There before them all was a life-sized picture of Dudley in his Smeltings Uniform. Soon everyone was doubled up with laughter.

_**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water.**_

"_**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**_

"_**Your new school uniform," she said.**_

The room was filled with numerous growls as everyone showed what they thought of that.

_**Harry looked in the bowl again.**_

"_**Oh," he said. "I didn't realise it had to be so wet."**_

"Such a Gryffindor thing to say," Severus said bitterly.

"Your point?" Harry asked.

Severus blinked. "I had forgotten that you are a Gryffindor and not one of my Slytherins.

Harry smirked at the dark-haired man. "I'll take that as a compliment."

The students in the room all shook their heads. "You would!"

"_**Don't be stupid," snapped aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things grey for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**_

_**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High – like he was wearing bits of elephant skin, probably.**_

"THAT REVOLTING WOMAN! CAN'T SHE SEE WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO YOU? HER SON ISN'T ALL THAT GOOD AND YET SHE SETS HIM UP ON A PEDISTAL AND PROBABLY PRAYS THAT YOU WILL GET KILLED ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE LOCAL SHOPS!" Hermione yelled before bursting into tears.

Harry sighed and hugged a non-resisting Hermione to him and rocked her gently as he offered her his last chocolate that he had unwrapped after finishing the previous one. Everyone, including Hermione, looked at Harry in shock. No one could believe that he was willingly sharing chocolate with anyone. It was proof by just how much the young man cared about his 'sister'.

_**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smeltings stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**_

_**They heard the click of the letter-box and flop of letters on the doormat.**_

"_**Get the post, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**_

"_**Make Harry get it."**_

"_**Get the post, Harry."**_

"_**Make Dudley get it."**_

"_**Poke him with your Smeltings stick, Dudley."**_

"Do you have a list for order of torturing your relatives?" Narcissa asked sweetly.

Harry once more reached for the same secret compartment and pulls out three rolls of parchment this time.

"Who is the top one on your cousin's list, Harry?" She asked, smiling softly.

"Hermione."

"I don't care how you do it, but I want him after her," she ordered, dropping the sweet act.

"I'll see what I can do," he smirked. He looked at the list, crossed a name out and writes Narcissa in it's place. "There you go 'Cissa," Harry yawned. "You are now the second person who has 'fun time' with Dudley.

"Can I have your Aunt?" Severus asked hopefully.

"You can now," Harry swallowed hard. "The One who wanted her can no longer do it, so she may as well go to the next best thing."

"It's okay Harry. You are not the one responsible for him dying, no matter what the old coot says," Neville soothed, patting the raven-haired youth on his head slightly.

"The old coot's trying to put the blame for the mutt's death on Harry?" Severus yelped in disbelief. "Now that is sick!"

Luna nodded her head, not as dreamy as she normally appeared to be.

"Why do you want his aunt?" Tom asked softly so only Severus could hear him.

"Lily," Severus answered grimly.

Tom nodded in understanding. From what he new, Severus and Lily were very close during their younger years and he would bet Nagini that the dour man felt as though he had disappointed her memory.

_**Harry dodged the Smeltings stick and went to get the post. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was holidaying on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill and – a letter for Harry.**_

_**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him.**_

"Hang on," Severus interrupted, out-raged. "You mean you had no contact with anyone when you were younger? Not even the wolf?"

Harry shook his head slowly. "No. Not even Remus. I don't blame him though. I blame Dumbledore."

_**Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives – he didn't belong to the library so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**_

_**Mr H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

"Please tell me the address is automatically put on the envelope," Draco begged desperately of his godfather.

"They aren't," Severus answered, breathing slowly as though he was trying to keep hold of his temper. "The Headmaster writes them as he is the only person allowed into the room that the record is held.

"Harry breath!" Neville screamed, making everyone jump in fright. "Luna, get Hermione out of here! Elise we need the wards! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

"What's happening?" Draco panicked, taking in the stony face of the boy-who-lived.

"He's about to loose his temper and therefore the control over his magic," Neville responded quickly, rummaging through his bag once more before shrugging helplessly and turning to the three adult males in the room. "Please help! I can't calm him down alone."

"What do we do?" Narcissa asked, holding her wand tightly in her hand.

At this point Harry started to leak magic, forcing them all back slightly.

"Anything that doesn't kill him!" Neville yelled as he pulled his own wand. He cast a cutting curse at the figure before them, sparking a small war in which everyone was against the dark-haired boy. After ten minutes, Neville finally managed to force him to reign in his magic using a spell none of them ever thought the shy boy would ever use.

"CRUCIO!"

Everyone who was in the room looked at the teen in shocked admiration.

Neville and Harry collapsed in exhaustion. Neville because of the amount of energy it had taken for him to have cast that particular spell on a member of his blood-bound family and Harry due to the amount of energy he had released in his anger without the sleep that would normally return his magic levels to normal.

"Is everyone all right?" Luna asked, poking her head around the door to see if it was safe for her and Hermione to walk back into the room holding everyone else.

A basket of chocolates appear in the centre of the room – out of Harry's line of sight so the others could have some to regain some of the energy they had just lost.

Neville nodded absentmindedly as he feed Harry three potions of slightly different shades of red.

"H-how o-often does … does that happen?" Severus panted. He felt as though he had been duelling for a two and a half hour period.

"It depends on the time of year. During the main part of the school year it happens once ever 3 weeks. Around exam time and if he has to go and see Dumbles for anything, then it can happen up to twice a day." Hermione announced calmly as she returned to her seat as though nothing of importance had happened. "It's been like this since ..." she rolled her eyes up to look at the ceiling as she thought. "A quarter through first year? Yeah, it was the day after Halloween."

"What did you give him?" Tom asked Neville curiously, never having seen any potion quite those shades of red.

"Strong healing, blood replenishing and anti-cruciatus for his nerves," Neville replied, sighing in relief as Harry's body stopped shaking from the after-effects of the curse that had broken his anger.

"Who makes them?" Severus asked, eyes narrowing dangerously. He had also never seen potions that shade of red before either.

"The four of us," Neville said, looking Severus in the eye. "He doesn't drink anything from anyone else any more – not even you Sir."

"He hasn't ever since he discovered that the Headmaster was planning on drugging him with a love potion disguised as a nutrient potion so that he'd fall for Ginny Weasley." Luna interrupted when she saw the potion's master open his mouth to argue.

Severus growled deep in his throat. "And why are they all that shade of red. They aren't supposed to be that colour."

Neville looked at Luna worriedly.

"If it doesn't come up later, we will tell you at the end of the books," Luna said, not worried in the slightest.

"And you better keep it a secret," Neville growled, eyes flashing the Gryffindor colours at the man across from him. "It would ruin all our lives if you don't – and I will cut your dick off with a teaspoon and wrap it around your throat before I let you endanger MY family."

Severus cleared his throat nervously and nodded his head in understanding before turning most of his attention back to the book

_**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald green ink. There was no stamp.**_

_**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'.**_

"_**Hurry up boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter-bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**_

"Now I see where you cousin got his sense of humour," Draco sneered, trying to pretend that Longbottom hadn't just threatened his godfather with something worse than castration.

_**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**_

_**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust and flipped over the postcard.**_

"_**Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk …"**_

"_**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**_

_**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**_

"How rude!" Tom cried in outrage.

"_**That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**_

"_**Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it.**_

"Once again I am confronted by understanding about why you have no respect for people with authority," Severus sighed, rubbing his eyes as if he were tired.

"I do have respect for people with authority," Harry protested. "It just has to be earned. Like Professor McGonagall has.

"How did she earn your respect?" Draco asked, tilting his head to the left, reminding Harry, Hermione and Luna of a curious puppy.

Harry grinned. "She turned Dumbles into a goat so that I couldn't get into trouble for calling him an old goat since it was just an observation."

The Slytherins blinked at the once more hyperactive Harry

"Oh! And she also decided that she wanted me for her catnip provider." He nodded very fast at this.

Neville let out a whimper that sounded half- amused and half fearful.

_**His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.**_

"What a horrible colour," Pansy said, wrinkling her nose as she imagined it.

Hermione turned an alarming shade of green and put her head between her knees at Harry's insistence while Neville absent-mindedly summoned a potion for her nausea.

"_**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped**_

_**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**_

"Choke you horse-faced bitch! CHOKE!" Harry shouted gleefully, dancing around the room, much to everyone's entertainment.

"He's scaring me more and more every second. I think he may have anger problems. Don't they make people act this way when they are suppressed?" Draco asked Pansy and Blaise, watching Harry with worried eyes.

"No, I don't have anger problems, I just want to see her asphyxiate," Harry answered him, still grinning madly.

"Do you know how scarily similar you are to Bellatrix?" Lucius asked slowly, not sure if he was going to get cursed for mentioning her name to the boy.

"Really? Well then, maybe I could get to know her better … after torturing her to sanity first though. Do you think she'd prefer Bambi or one of the Barbie movies?" Harry asked really quickly and all in one breath.

Hermione: started to laugh and she kept laughing until tears began to run down her face.

"_**Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"**_

_**They started at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley werestill in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smeltings stick.**_

"_**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**_

"_**I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**_

"_**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**_

_**Harry didn't move.**_

"_**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**_

"And here we see the famous Potter temper coming through. If we had managed to last any longer without it showing up, I would have to have asked some questions as to what the impostor did with the body of the REAL Harry Potter," Hermione announced in a teasing manor.

Neville and Luna sniggered as Draco whispered. "See – Anger Management Issues."

Harry rolled his eyes in the blonde's direction. "Yes, we all know I have a temper, now can we get on with this? I'm starting to remember why I don't want to go there this summer."

"_**Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**_

'_**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.**_

"We finally see that prick of a cousin of yours get the same treatment as you!" Blaise cheered.

Yes, but did Harry's uncle use the same amount of force on both of them?" Lucius asked.

Harry looked thoughtful. "I do believe he did. Dudley – at this point in time – probably weighed the same as a baby elephant seal and I weighed about as much as something much smaller, so Dudley got pushed out of the room and I had a flying lesson ... what do you know! I did know how to fly before I got to Hogwarts ... I just forgot about the need for a broom!"

Tom hissed his displeasure at the Muggle Uncle. He had said it once and he would say it again: these were the worst type of Muggle in existence and it was these that he wished he could exterminate without consequence.

_**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen t the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**_

"Not that I had much of a chance in the first place," Harry grumbled. "I think even a twig could have over-powered me in a physical fight."

"_**Vernon,' Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address – how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**_

"_**Watching – spying – might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**_

"_**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want –"**_

_**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**_

"_**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer … yes, that's best … we won't do anything …"**_

"_**But-"**_

"Harry?" Hermione said softly into the silence that prevailed after that sentence.

"Yeah 'Mione?" Harry asked back just as soft.

"I don't like your family," she whispered tearfully.

Harry pulled her into a hug, allowing her to snuggle into him. "Neither do I love. Neither do I."

"_**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**_

"WHAT!" Severus, Lucius and Narcissa yelled, completely shocked. Harry just shrugged and indicated for Lucius to continue.

_**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**_

"_**Where's my letter?" said Harry the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**_

"_**No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**_

"_**It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily. "It had my cupboard on it."**_

"A MISTAKE!" Tom yelled, finally giving into his rising temper.

"That brute!" Severus sneered. "Burning someone else's letters … Must remember to suggest to Minerva to put a fire-proofing charm on the letters from now on. How in the world did you put up with these..." he wrinkled his nose in distaste. "People?"

"You get used to it," Harry shrugged negligently.

"You shouldn't have had to!" Narcissa raged. "You should have been in a family that adored you and treated you as though you were something precious. Just wait until we get you back to the Manor, I will just simply have to do something special for you ... Maybe a feast. We'll invite all the important people – oh, and a Ball! With a large cake in welcome and ..."

Harry paled and slowly inched further into his seat to hide from the terrifying lady who was now seated beside him.

"'Cissa, Love. I think you have scared the boy enough," Lucius crooned to his wife to interrupt her musings. Narcissa smiled and nodded at her husband, muttering something about green, black and gold roses while trying to get a strongly protesting Harry seated on her lap like she used to do with Draco before he became too old for such frivolities.

"_**SILENCE!" YELLED uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**_

"_**Er – yes, Harry – about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking … you're really getting a bit big for it … we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**_

"THAT BASTARD HAS TWO ROOMS?" Narcissa and Lucius shouted together, murder plainly seen in their eyes.

**~must not kill, must not kill, must not kill~ **Harry hissed softly squeezing the bridge of his nose, sounding very much like he was trying to convince himself that it would be a bad thing to kill the elder Malfoys

Tom paled as he noticed the familiar homicidal look the teen was shooting at one of his most faithful followers and his wife.

Hermione smiled sadly and pat Harry's shoulder before she snuggled into him for comfort.

"_**Why?" said Harry**_

"_**Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**_

_**The Dursley' house had for bedrooms; one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old cine-camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over next door's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite programme had been cancelled; there was a large bird cage which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air-rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end al bent because Dudley had sat on it.**_

"He's that big?" Severus asked disgustedly.

"Let me put it this way Sir," Harry said, rocking a very green looking Hermione softly while she hiccoughed softly. "By the time he was nine he could have given jolly ol' St Nick a run for his money in the weight department."

The Slytherins all felt their faces reveal their utter disgust at the thought.

_**Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**_

"Isn't that just typical. Stupid Muggles!" Hermione spat, wiping her eyes dry with a hanky that Harry pulled from merlin-knows-where.

"Um … aren't you a muggle?" Draco asked, once more suffering from a case of foot-in-mouth disease.

"NO I BLOODY WELL AM NOT!" Hermione shouted, going bright red in anger. "I HAVE MAGIC, THEREFORE I AM OF MAGICAL BLOOD! I AM KNOWN AS A MUGGLE-BORN WITCH, NOT A FUCKING MUGGLE!"

"'Mione, come on Hun, calm down or you might hurt the baby," Harry stated, moving so that Hermione was straddling his lap sideways and her face was pressed into the base of his neck.

Hermione frowned deeply at a flustered Draco until Harry started to relax her by running a hand genly up and down her back as one might do to soothe a fussy child.

"So there," Neville said, fighting the urge to laugh.

_**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother; "I don't want him in there … I need that room … make him get out …**_

"

_**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**_

Luna handed Harry another cup of tea after discretely pouring a nutrition potion into it.

Hermione started crying again softly.

Draco, Pansy and Blaise all exchange uncomfortable looks before silently agreeing to try not to anger the hormonal witch.

_**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smeltings stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof and he still didn't have his room back.**_

"What a spoilt Brat!" Tom sneered, making Neville jump having forgotten that he was there.

"He needs to be flogged!" Severus growled, agreeing with the Dark Lord.

Harry unfocused his eyes and made his voice twice as dreamy as Luna's. "I see a tall dark handsome stranger in your future. You will become intimately involved with his wonderfully hard hand."

Luna, Hermione, Narcissa and Pansy all choke on their indrawn breath and start to cough.

Lucius, Draco, Tom, Blaise, Severus and Neville all look at Harry with disbelief and a green tinge to their faces.

"Don't we all wish … and I'm not talking about Dudders here either," Harry sighed in an almost dreamy way.

"Father," Draco said, inching towards Lucius slightly. "He's scaring me."

"He's scaring all of us Son," Lucius responded, also inching closer to his son and dragging his wife with him.

"Speak for yourselves!" Luna, Hermione and Pansy chorused.

"The only reason females like to be my friends is because I talk guys with them," Harry pouted, mock glaring at the smirking females.

"YOU'RE GAY!" Draco yelped.

"No, Bi – Get the best of both worlds that way," Harry smirked and licked his lips. " Not to mention the threesomes"

Hermione reached an arm around and smacked Harry across the back of the head. "Down Bessie!"

"But 'Mione ..." Harry whined.

Narcissa covered her mouth trying hard not to laugh at the two teens and the looks of horror on the other male students – including that of her own son.

_Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall._

"Hindsight's is a bitch, ain't it," Harry glowered.

_**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**_

_**When the post arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry,**_

Harry snorted into Hermione's hair. "Make sure I didn't have the opportunity to sneak the letter should another one come, more like it."

_**Made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smeltings stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! Mr H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive –"**_

_**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get** **the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.**_

Hermione started to laugh hysterically at the last line that was read.

"The only way to fight Vernon, trolls and other mountainous objects," Harry said solemnly, causing Hermione to laugh even harder and Neville to shake his head in amusement at the two of them.

"Oookay … I don't want to know," Blaise said.

Harry smiled slightly. "You'll understand when we get further along into the book."

_**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smeltings stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**_

"_**Go to your cupboard – I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley – go – just go."**_

_**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**_

"Pity it was a spur of the moment plan and made out of desperation," Harry sighed.

_**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**_

_**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drived and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall towards the front door –**_

"_**AAAAARRRGH!"**_

_**Harry leapt into the air – he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat – something alive!**_

The theme song to jaws started to play, echoing around the room eerily.

"ARGH! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Hermione, Neville and Luna screamed, laughing slightly.

_**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realised that the big squashy something had been his uncle's face.**_

Laughter ran through the room at this. They hadn't been expecting that at all.

"I think that was the first and only time I actually wished that we had a pet that wasn't house-trained," Harry smirked.

_**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do.**_

"Just as we all thought there was some hope for you, you become a Gryffindor!" Severus sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Like I said – I was desperate." Harry gave the potions master an evil grin that would have seemed to be more at home on the Dark Lord's face rather than that of the boy-who-lived. "But not as desperate as the Dursleys will be!"

"Pans? Tell me what's wrong with this picture," Draco said, face in a thoughtful frown.

"You mean other then you, me, Blaise, your parents, Professor Snape and our Lord having a conversation with the Boy-Who-Lived without trying to kill him?" Pansy stated without pre-amble.

"It's not a dream?" Draco asked sadly.

"No, Dray. It's not," Blaise sniggered.

Harry smirked at the blonde, eyes once again alight with mischief. "Dray?"

Draco groaned, ignoring the laughter that spread through the room.

_**He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the post had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**_

"_**I want –" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**_

Tom looked at Harry with eyes full of disgust. "And you want to save these people?"

"No. Last time I checked I was told I wanted to save these people. I never got the chance to say what I wanted," Harry sighed, frowning at the man.

The Slytherins looked at him with wide eyes.

"If you had the choice, what would you choose?" Lucius asked curiously.

"Oh, I really don't know. I mean – the light are a bunch of arse-wipes and I know nothing about the Dark other then the males are freaking hot!" Harry said sarcastically.

Hermione, Luna and Pansy looked at each other with grins before shouting "FUCKING OATH!"

"So, Tom, tell me … Does your side have cookies?" Harry asked innocently.

Tom blinked at the strange question. "Um … What happens if I say yes?"

"You have our loyalty," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville stated, straight faced.

Harry smirked darkly. "Say you're sparkly in the same sentence and it changes to undying devotion."

Draco whimpered, just thinking of those words coming from his mouth made him want to hide his face with shame.

Severus knew that if Harry was to say one more thing along this line than he wouldn't be able to suppress his laughter any more. As it was, his shoulders were shaking with the effort it was taking him to not laugh.

Tom, for the first time in his memory, choked on his own tongue at the teen's words.

_**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the letter-box.**_

"_**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**_

"_**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**_

"_**OH, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**_

Harry, Draco, Severus and Blaise yelled. "THANK MERLIN FOR THAT!"

"AGREED!" Hermione, Pansy, Luna and Neville yelled back.

_**On Friday, no fewer than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the letter-box they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs toilet.**_

_**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**_

"Did he really jump at every slightest sound?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"Yep! I remember dropping the pans on purpose when it was really quiet to make him jump. To be honest, I was trying to give him a heart attack. It never worked though," Harry grinned at his sister.

"Pity," Neville bemoaned.

Draco turned to Blaise and Pansy and whispered, "I think I could come to like these four."

Lucius and Severus who were within hearing range nodded their agreement.

_**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living-room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food mixer.**_

"_**Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**_

Harry chuckled darkly. "The one and only intelligent thing he's ever said."

_**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**_

"_**No post on Sundays," he reminded them happily as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letter today –"**_

"See what I mean? Dudley had no chance when it came to brains," Harry yelled, jumping to his feet still holding Hermione and pointing at the book with one finger.

_**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head.**_

Once more, laughter rang through the room – but this time a tinkling chime also joined in.

_**Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one –**_

"_**Out! OUT!"**_

_**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.**_

"Just how much did you weigh back then?" Narcissa asked, worriedly.

"I could pick him up easily without any strain on me," Hermione said.

"Hell, I could pick him up first year!" Neville said, shaking his head. "And we all know how I was back then.

"You still can you bastard," Harry muttered, a slight bitter tone to his voice.

"You know you love me," Neville responded cheekily.

"Only cause you got a nice arse," Harry responded, waving a hand negligently.

"And you know this how?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry smirked at the girl. "Two words for you Luna. Communal Showers."

"Oh, Okay. As long as you don't touch," she said, shrugging.

"Lovely – My best friend and my girlfriend are discussing my arse in front of not only me, but people we don't know that well," Neville snorted in amusement.

"You love it, don't lie," Luna and Harry responded in a monotone.

Neville grinned. "Bloody oath I do!"

Draco stood and moved to crouch behind Pansy. "Pansy, save me. They're scaring me!"

Harry grinned evilly at the hiding blonde. "Would you prefer to deal with a hyper bookworm?"

Everyone in the room shuddered except for Hermione who pouted.

"It was once Harry. ONCE! Can't you let it go already?"

_**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**_

"_**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes, ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**_

_**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache**_

Hermione giggled, her ire falling away from her as she started to pay more attention to the story.

_**Missing that no one dared argue. Tem minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding towards the motorway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, video and computer in his sports bag.**_

Lucius sneered with disgust. "Any parent with sense knows you don't hit a child over the head!"

"Who said he has sense?" Neville, Harry, Luna and Hermione asked.

Lucius sighed. "True."

_**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turning and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**_

"_**Shake 'em off … shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**_

"Look! He's gone insane!" Harry bounced in his chair before pouting. "Wish I could say that I was the one responsible for it."

Lucius and Narcissa exchange looks with Severus and Tom. None of them could believe that they had hadn't seen this side of Harry Potter before. Now that they were aware of it, they remembered little things that had confused them every time they saw him without the Weasley brats around him.

_**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programmes he'd wanted to see and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**_

_**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the window-sill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering …**_

Draco turned to look at Harry in amazement. "How is it that you could hide all this?"

"I had a roll to play so I'd be safe," Harry responded, almost adding 'Der' at the end.

"But how did you handle everything when you weren't playing the role?" Blaise asked in confusion. Never had he seen or heard of the Golden Boy of Gryffindor doing anything that could be counted as 'stress relief'.

"While he's here in Hogwarts, he only ever drops the façade when he is in this room," Neville responded when it became clear that Harry wasn't going to answer Blaise.

"As to how he copes … maybe you should ask later when he doesn't seem to be intent on killing us with his eyes," Luna finished serenely.

_**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast next day.**_

Everyone but Hermione and Harry wrinkled their noses in disgust. "Eww!"

Hermione pouted at Harry, her eyes wide and innocent. "Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Can I have tomato and onion on toast? PEASE?" she asked, eyes getting even wider. Severus wondered how Harry could ignore them enough to not just give in to whatever it was the older witch wanted.

"You can call Niffy Hermione," he pointed out softly.

"But I want you to cook it," Hermione pouted with tears in her eyes.

Harry sighed. "How 'bout this. You have some more tea and a scone now and I'll make you the tomato and onion on toast for breakfast tomorrow since I am going to be cooking all our meals from now on and just use the house-elves as a tea service. I'll even start to eat – it may not be much, but I'll eat."

"Okay," Hermione chirped happily.

"We will help you in the kitchen so you don't have to spend as much time without sleep," Neville put in, knowing that his friend would otherwise spend all his time in the kitchen and not getting the sleep that he needed.

"Thanks Nev," Harry said, only a hint of sarcasm evident.

_**They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**_

"'_**scuse me, but is one of you Mr H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**_

_**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**_

_**Mr H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

_**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**_

"_**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining-room.**_

"_**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge and at the top of a multi-story car park.**_

"_**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia duly late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car and disappeared.**_

"Is that man insane?" Pansy asked, eyes wide.

"Only when I'm involved," Harry said sadly.

Neville and Luna exchanged looks and moved to the loveseat that Harry and Hermione were seated at so they could snuggle into his sides while Hermione snuggled into his neck.

"I want you all to keep an eye on all four of them. I want to see what we can learn by their behaviour. We already know that they did the blood-bonding for siblings. I think that they may have created their own family," Tom said to the Slytherins around him, eyes glued to the ball of fluff happening before him.

"Don't forget that he mentioned the Weasley twins as well," Draco stated quietly. "The three of us have noticed that Harry opens up more to them then anyone else, excluding them three."

"Ok. I'm actually very interested in meeting these twins. I am interested in knowing how they managed to irritate my potions master so well," Tom said, smirking at the disgusted face on Severus at the mention of the two red-haired devils

_**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**_

"_**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."**_

_**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday – and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television – then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun – last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat-hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**_

Growls filled the room.

_**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**_

_**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**_

"_**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**_

_**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out to sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**_

"_**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**_

_**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowing boat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.**_

"_**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "So all aboard!"**_

_**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**_

_**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls and the fire-place was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**_

Hermione leapt to her feet and ran out of the room wither hands covering her mouth with Harry close behind her, face contorted with an odd mix of exhaustion, worry and anger.

"What did he mean by 'he'll cook'?" Severus asked the two remaining members of Harry's friends.

"Exactly that. Harry's a wonderful cook, and he manages to make things that are tasty, gentle enough on an upset stomach and that even the most picky of eaters will eat." Neville said, smiling softly at the thought of his friend while in the kitchen.

Lucius sneered slightly. "You mean he does house-elf work?"

Neville sighed, rubbing his forhead with a hand. "Remember when Blaise asked how Harry manages to cope? Well, the fastest and easiest way for us to help him cope is by using him for target practice, but we only go that far when he is loosing control over his magic."

"The other way – and one that is safer for everyone involved – is for him to cook. It calms him much faster and more effectively then meditation," Luna interrupted dreamily.

"He also sleeps better if he cooks and Sir? If you try to break into his mind while he is cooking … well … lets just say that you will not be able to find anything. His mind just … disappears," Neville finished, wincing slightly when he noticed both Harry and Hermione standing just in the doorway.

"Feel free to tell them my secrets, guys. I don't mind, honest, Harry said sarcastically, making Pansy, Blaise and Draco jump slightly.

"That's good, because we were going to do so anyway," Luna stated calmly, eyes swirling slightly hypnotically.

Harry turned around and started to hit his head against the wall as hard as he could before Hermione and Neville cast a full body bind on him and moved him to the seat, where they let it go.

_**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a packet of crisps each and four bananas.**_

Everyone looks at the book in disbelief

_**He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp packets just smoked and shrivelled up.**_

"_**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said, cheerfully.**_

_**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver post. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**_

"You really are a pessimist, aren't you?" Draco asked Harry, eyebrow raised in exasperation.

"I prefer the term 'realist'," Harry responded, tilting his head up slightly and narrowing his eyes.

Severus chuckled, remembering with fondness how Lily did the same thing whenever James Potter was around.

_**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up und the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**_

"Right! Where are my Death Eater robes? I'm going to go kill a bitch!" Severus snapped, making everyone jump at the unexpectedness of how venomous it sounded.

"PROFESSOR! SIT DOWN!" Harry roared, once again scaring everyone.

Severus sat back in his seat automatically, almost as though he was magnetically attracted to it. He, and everyone else, looked blinkingly between the seat (or Severus for the others) and Harry.

"Sev," Tom whined, "why don't you do that for me?"

"You don't enforce your order with magic, Milord," Severus managed to state somewhat coherently.

"You can do that?" Tom gaped.

"He does," Severus, Neville, Luna and Hermione announced, pointing once more at Harry who just looked at them flatly.

Draco turned to his parent, a slightly scared look on his face. "Um … I think that Sev's starting to warm to this new Potter."

"It's Harry," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville stated.

"FINE! HARRY! HAPPY NOW!" Draco shouted, loosing whatever hold on his temper he'd had previously.

Harry smiled. "Yes. Yes I am."

Draco felt the anger bleed away as he took in Harry's answer. Hermione and Luna giggled slightly. Trust Harry to be able to soothe a rampaging dragon with only a few words.

_**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minute's time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter-writer was now.**_

_**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**_

Hermione threw herself onto Harry, tear running down her cheeks as soon as she heard that. Harry sighed, knowing that of everyone, Hermione was always the one that was affected the most whenever anything hinted at the fact that he was even contemplating suicide. Blaise, Draco and Pansy all looked at the two Gryffindors with their eyes the size of dinner plates. How did they not notice that there was more to even one of their school mates then met the eye?

Tom and Narcissa growled at the book as if it had deeply insulted them with its mere existence. Lucius and Severus looked at each other and nodded their agreement. They would definitely do anything that Narcissa told them to do for the boy. Anything to get him away from those thrice-be-damned muggles.

_**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal on somehow.**_

_**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**_

Blaise smirked at Harry. "Damn, you have one hell of an imagination

"You have no idea," Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna chorused, causing Draco to shudder and everyone to laugh.

_**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds … twenty … ten – nine – maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him – three – two – one – **_

_**BOOM.**_

_**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, starting at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**_

As Lucius closed the book, Harry was already writing on the parchment they were using to keep track of the things that Harry shouldn't have done, or should have done differently. Hermione was reading over his shoulder and she started to laugh as he completed it. There on the paper was written:

3 Keep the Gryffindork behaviour to Hogwarts, not with the muggles

Everyone stood up and stretched, watching as the seating disappeared and the bedding appeared in its place.

"Don't forget to make a kitchen, Elise. You know how I like them – and if Niffy gets any ideas to do anything except for stocking the room, kick her out for me please. And get some rest tonight, Luv. I'm safe with these people."

A soft chime answered Harry as the Slytherin's in the room looked at each other with wide eyes. Running his hand down the wall once, Harry smiled and turned to Tom. "Ok Tom. I'm ready when you are, but know this. If I find out that you didn't get any sleep or I think you look tired, or sense a glamour charm hiding that you look tired, I will not allow you to do it again."

Neville shook his head. Harry was trying to keep someone from helping him again. "Harry," he said conversationally. "Think of it this way. He has gone through a hell of a lot in his life, wouldn't you think?" Harry nodded. Neville hit him across the back of the head for his stupidity. "Then let him help you idiot! He is older then you, has put up with similar things to what you have and he wants to help you with yours, so you WILL let him help you, or I will leave you to deal with Hermione when she goes into labour by yourself!"

The Malfoy patriarch winced at the threat and he was not surprised when the dark-haired teen lowered his head in defeat.

"Ok. I will let him help me."

"Good! Because if you didn't let him, I would have taken a bat to you and beaten you into submission."

Harry smirked at Neville's choice of words. "I never took you for an S and M kinda guy, Nev. Will you tie me up too?"

Neville choked on his last bit of tea, making Harry laugh uncontrollably. He never noticed the spell that Tom had cast at him.

Soon everyone was in bed and just before he asked for the lights to be turned off, Neville checked Harry – who was fast asleep on top of his bed. Smiling, Neville gently tucked him under the covers before running his fingers through his hair and planting a small kiss on his forehead. "Sweet dreams, Harry. You deserve them more then the rest of us."

Everyone watched Neville in silence when he turned around and walked to Tom. Looking deep into his eyes, he said something that no one thought they would ever hear Neville say to the Dark Lord.

"Thank you for doing this. He means a lot to us and it pains us that we can't do anything to help him at night." He then walked to his bed, pulled the curtains and ordered the lights off, leaving everyone in darkness as they thought of the black-haired teen that seemed to be bridging the gap between the light and dark sides of the war to create the grey.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Tom woke to a smell that he hadn't come across since his early years in the orphanage. He quickly got out of bed and headed for the kitchen, not daring to believe that the raven-haired youth would make his own bread, but hoping – against his better judgement – that if he had, that he had a lot of real butter and sweetened condensed milk to go on top of it. It sounded like the perfect breakfast to him.

When he got to the open door of the kitchen, it was to see Harry humming a song that he wasn't familiar with while he mixed a pan of scrambled eggs before separating it onto four plates that already had bacon, tomato, mushrooms, hashed potatoes and a thick slice of steaming bread slathered with golden butter. It didn't take him long to look at the table that had appeared during the night and discover that everyone else was seated in their spots – all in their pyjamas.

He stood in the door until Harry saw him and smiled. Without warning, Harry threw himself at the older man and hugged him tightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" he said.

Tom gasped. "Need … Breath … Air."

Harry let him go, chuckling sheepishly. "Sorry Tom. I got a wonderful nights sleep last night because of you, so thank you so much."

Tom smiled. "It wasn't a problem, Harry. They didn't affect me at all. I rarely remember any dream that I have. I thought that if they were not my dreams, that I might remember more, but since I didn't if you have no problems with it, I'll handle your dreams for a while, before letting them come to you one at a time to let you deal with them rather then all at once like you have been doing."

Harry beamed. "Thank you Tom! Now, sit down so I can get you your breakfast!"

Tom chuckled and took a seat between Draco and Severus. It wasn't until he had taken a mouthful of coffee that he looked to see what everyone around him had before them. Severus, Lucius, Blaise and Luna were the recipients of the very large breakfasts he had seen Harry make when he'd walked in. Neville had pouched eggs on toast while Narcissa, Pansy and Draco had what looked like a baked tomato on their plate with a slice of bread.

Seeing Tom's confused look, Draco smiled slightly. "It's a tomato that's had the seeds scooped out and has spinach on the bottom, an egg cracked into it and diced ham sprinkled on top before it's baked. We are just waiting for Pot … Harry to sit down so we can eat."

Tom nodded then let his eyes roam down to Hermione who – for some reason – had Toast topped with a tomato and onion mixture that was making his mouth water just as much as the smell of hot home-made bread did. When Harry put his plate before him, he looked down and felt his eyes widen. There, on his plate, were two very large, very thick slices of fresh bread slathered in both butter and sweetened condensed milk.

Everyone at the table was surprised, not to mention slightly uncomfortable, when they noticed the Dark Lord had tears in his eyes that he refused to let fall. They had never been so glad to see Harry as when he sat down with half a slice of bread topped with less butter and sweetened condensed milk as Tom's two slices, half a banana and a glass of milk with a thick layer of cream on top.

Neville laughed when Harry glared at the glass. "I'm guessing that you've tried to get rid of it by banishing it?" Harry nodded, pouting. "Well, you'll have also discovered that the vanishing charm no longer works in here until you have eaten at least a quarter of what you have – and you have to drink all the milk – including the cream! Healers orders!"

Everyone laughed as Harry pouted more, yet still picked up his banana half and took a small bite, making a face at the texture of it. Once he had swallowed the bite and had taken a slightly larger one, the rest of the people at the table started eating. Tom was hard pressed to not moan out loud as the long forgotten, but still familiar, taste of his favourite snack hit his tongue. If the wide-eyed looks he was receiving were anything to go by, he had failed miserably.

Breakfast passed quickly in a flurry of eating, with everyone keeping an eye on Harry. All of them were surprisingly happy when they watched him swallow his last mouthful of food before attempting to mix the cream into the milk before he took a sip. Neville smirked when a small hum of pleasure came from the smaller boy.

"I told you that you would enjoy it."

Harry glared at him playfully. "I didn't know what the stuff floating on the milk was, Neville. I've only ever seen it in the form of a liquid from a carton that you add to scrambled eggs, never on milk. The milk I normally get – if I get any at all – is always no fat and watered down."

Several people growl at that announcement but the angry atmosphere dissolves when a loud bang on the door leading to the rest of the school rang through the rooms. "Harry, my boy. I believe you have been at this for quite enough! Come out of that room now before something bad happens to you!"

Tom was surprised that the glare Harry directed at the door didn't melt the metal in it.

"No! I am staying here until I decide to come out. Don't worry, I will be out so you can send me back to Hell, but not before I have to be, so rack off Old Coot!"

"Mr Potter! Did you just say what I think you just said?"

Harry wasn't the only one to notice Tom's face go slightly red at this voice.

"Yes, Professor, I did! And I will say it again, just so you know what I said. I told the Old Coot to RACK OFF!"

"Albus! What have I told you about annoying my students? If they have no exams left to do, then they are free to do what they want, as long as they don't torment poor Peeves again. And as long as they are out of that room before the train leaves, you are in no position to do anything to them." The eleven people in the room held their breaths as they heard the old man muttering to himself as he stormed away from the Room of Requirement.

Harry sighed. "Thank you Professor. Has he gone yet?"

"Yes Mr Potter. He has."

Harry walked to the door and opened it. "Please come in, Professor – just please don't over-react to who is in the room with us. They haven't been any trouble." He appeared in the doorway, closely followed by the Gryffindor head of house, who stood, flabbergasted at the sight that met her eyes.

She pursed her lips and took the seat that appeared at the end of the table. "Explain." The next half an hour was used in catching the Professor up with what they had been doing. At the mention of the books, she blinked then frowned. "I would like to be included in the next book to find out what is happening, but I would like to also be here for this one as well, but I can't. Is there any way that you can write out what happens in them so I can catch up before the next book is read? I also think that the twins and Remus would like to know about this too."

"I had opened up my house to everyone in this room to spend the Summer holidays, so I see no harm in either yourself, Lupin nor the twins also attending, as long as you understand that we no longer wish to harm Harry – we just want to know what it is that has happened in his life so we can help him," Lucius said.

Minerva blinked. In all her years of living, she had never thought that she would be invited along to Malfoy Manor. She nodded her acceptance.

"And make sure that you tell the twins that I said no pranks while they are there – they can design and test them on their own time, but if I see one of them while they are in the presence of these Slytherins, I will enjoy pulling a few pranks of my own." The chill in Harry's voice made all in the room shiver.

"I will do so, Mr Potter. After seeing what you did to Peeves, I can say nothing else."

"What did he do to Peeves, Minerva?" Severus asked, intrigued. After all, they hadn't been told before they had fallen asleep, and he wanted answers.

The four laughed. "We turned him florescent pink with khaki spots, orange nails, black teeth, red hair down to his knees and a pair of Double E cup sized boobs."

Severus looked confused, so Harry elaborated. "We caught Peeves about to use a very painful prank on a couple of Slytherin first years, and we pranked him before thinking. He was stuck like it for a week before he came to me begging for us to turn him back and told him that I was willing to make a deal with him. He was to leave all the first year students, all the Slytherin students and Professor Snape and his lab out of his prank list for good and I would supply him with untested produce from the Weasley Twins to test out on any and all other students and teachers. He went into shock for a week before he snapped out of it and agreed. For an added bonus, I also gave him the password to Dumbledore's office."

Laughter filled the room. "Oh, and Professor? I'm sure that Elise will be able to show you, Remus and the Twins all of what we cover in the books after we leave to go home." Harry made a face. "After all, I have to be there for a few days before I organise for someone to come kidnap me."

Minerva smiled and nodded. "I will like that a lot, Harry. I will leave you alone now, but before I go, I have one question. Why didn't you tell Albus that the older Malfoys and Voldemort were in here with you?"

Harry smirked. "Oh, but I did Professor. I told him that we were having a lovely tea party before he interrupted and that I wanted to get back to it. Is it my fault if he didn't believe me?"

Minerva chuckled. "I do not believe that I have ever been happier to have my own little snake then now, Harry." She hugged him, leaving the Slytherins with their mouths gaping. "You take care, Harry. I'll make sure the Old Goat stays away from you until you come out."

"Okay, Minnie. You take care too." Neville lead a smiling Minerva to the door while Harry finished drinking his milk happily. "So, are we going to read the next chapter? Or do you all want to have a shower and get dressed first?"

Draco shrieked. "YOU MEAN WE JUST HAD A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE IN OUR PYJAMAS!" Everyone snickered as Draco ran to where his bed was and slammed a door shut.

Lucius stood, chuckling. "We will be out once we are dressed for the day, Harry. I do believe that it is Narcissa's turn to read, is it not?"

At Harry's nod, everyone disappeared to change, while Harry prepared what he wanted to make for lunch.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone was seated around the table and Narcissa had the book resting closed on her lap. "Is everyone ready?" At the multiple nods, she opened the book with a deep sigh.

_**Chapter 4 – The Keeper of the Keys**_

_**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**_

"_**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**_

Laughter from all occupants filled the room.

_**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**_

"_**Who's there?" he shouted, "I warn you – I'm armed!"**_

_**There was a pause. Then – **_

_**SMASH!**_

_**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**_

"It sure scared the shit outta me!" Harry chuckled, thinking back to that day fondly.

_**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**_

_**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into it's frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**_

"_**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea could yeh? It's not been an easy journey …"**_

"HAGRID!" Neville, Luna, Hermione and Harry yelled, delighted at their large friend's appearance.

"Best man for the job, if I do say so myself," Harry announced, grinning with a more-than-slightly-evil look in his eye.

Tom shivered slightly. "If I look like that when I'm thinking evil thoughts, then no wonder everyone fears me, he muttered quietly so no one could hear him. It was now official ... Tom Marvolo Riddle – aka the Dark Lord Voldemort – was terrified out of his skull by one Harry James Potter. What had the world come to?

_**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**_

"_**Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**_

_**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother,**_

Neville sniggered. "As if that will help you, you great Pillock!"

_**Who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**_

" Must we continue to call him "Uncle' all the time," Narcissa scowled down at the words, licking her lips as though the word 'uncle' had left a rank, greasy taste in her mouth. "Do they think we don't get the point that he is Harry's Uncle?"

"I don't mind calling him Uncle all the time. All it does for me is enforce who it is that I want to kill," Harry stated in a dreamy state, not that different from the one that Luna usually sank into.

Severus shuddered at the immense joy that thought had provoked into appearing in the boy's eyes.

"_**An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**_

_**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**_

_**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."**_

"Un … Be … Lievable! He doesn't introduce himself but compares you to your parents? How ..." Draco stared in horror at Hagrid's lack of decent manners. Is this what supporting Dumbledore did to your brain?

"Plebian? Uncouth? Unthoughtful? Uncultured?" Harry added, smiling helpfully at the blonde.

"All the above?" Hermione offered, giving Draco the same smile that Harry was giving him.

Draco looked between the two with a slight whimper of fear escaping his lips, even though he was trying to stifle it.

Lucius looked at Narcissa. "I think they have just managed to do what we and many others have failed to do," he said, blinking in shock.

Narcissa smiled slightly. "What's that, love?"

Lucius smirked. "Act more like Draco then Draco does."

"Harry also does a wonderful impersonation of Draco pouting," Luna absentmindedly interrupted.

"WHAT!" Draco shrieked.

Harry crossed his arms, furrowed his brow and pouted his lips while turning the corners of his lips down in the same way that both Draco and Lucius were pouting at that point in time. Everyone looked between the three of them, fighting off the urge to laugh hysterically at them.

_**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**_

"_**I demand that you leave at once, sir!' he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**_

"_**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant. He reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**_

"You should have seen the look on Vernon's face!" Harry grinned.

_**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**_

Pansy raised an eyebrow. "I agree with Blaise and My Lord, harry. Your mind is both amusing and disturbing."

"Just because I've dreamt of seeing him turned into a mouse and trodden on – hopefully by his whale of a son – doesn't mean my mind is disturbing," Harry pouted before looking up and seeing everyone look at him with eyes wide in a disturbing way. "… I said that out loud didn't I?"

Hermione nodded slowly, as though any sudden movements would set him off.

"Damn."

"_**Anyway – Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it as some point, but it'll taste all right."**_

A shudder of revulsion went through the room as everyone but Harry reacted.

_**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**_

Lucius wrinkled his nose. "You didn't eat that did you?"

"It was chocolate," Harry stated as though it was the end of the discussion.

"But ... He sat on it!" the blonde man said slowly.

"But … It was chocolate," Harry responded to him in the same way.

"It's better to not argue with him. When chocolate is involved, it's all he thinks of," Luna said, leaning towards the older Malfoy male.

"That is so not healthy," Narcissa said, looking kind of grossed out.

"But it was chocolate," Harry whined softly.

"Last Hogsmeade visit, he bought out Honeyducks' supply of Bertie Botts Beans. The visit before that he bought them out of their supply of Bloodpops. And he always buys at least half of all the chocolate they have in stock. I swear that they are making triple their normal yearly profit with one visit from Harry," Neville stated, handing over another bloodpop ... one that was coated in chocolate.

"We confiscate all of the sweets he buys and give them to him bit by bit. Elise also keeps a store of sugar filled things that appear close to him when he needs a pick-me-up. Particularly since he rarely eats," Luna said, steering the conversation back into the direction that it was heading towards before Harry had started to whine softly.

"Everything he is given at any time from us are full of nutrient potion, so he still gets the require amount of nutrients. If we just give him the potion, then he just vanishes it too," Hermione explained further.

Severus looked at the two Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw with pride shining out of his eyes. He knew how hard it was to get someone who was abused to eat if malnutrition was a problem and these three had just sorted out the problem. Make the victim eat as much as their stomach can hold without making them sick, then give them sweets filled with nutrient potion! Ingenious!

"These four should so be in Slytherin … so why aren't they?" Tom mused to himself, deep in thought.

_**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**_

"Argh! I was such an incompetent at that age!" Harry said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"I would have said the same thing, Harry," Neville said comfortingly before rolling his eyes and shaking his head at Harry's pessimism.

"In that situation, I think I would have as well," Draco said thoughtfully. "You know nothing of the wizarding world, your family hate you and tells you lies and then a complete stranger who is too big to be allowed breaks into the 'unreachable' position that your relatives have forced you to so that they can make your life even worse, only for him to start talking to you as if you are a close friend of his. I would also ask the same question ... just probably not in as nice a way as you probably did.

Severus, Lucius and Narcissa exchanged wide-eyed looks before glancing between the two boys. The boy was a miracle worker, that was the only explaination they could give to the way Draco was reacting ... and themselves as well for that matter. Harry shifted uncomfortably at the way the three adults were looking at him.

_**The giant chuckled.**_

"_**True, I haven't introduced meself. Rebeus Hagird, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**_

_**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**_

"_**What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**_

Hermione, Neville and Luna stiffened in their places. "NO!"

Lucius, Narcissa, Blaise, Pansy and Draco looked at them curious as to the reason for their outbursts. Harry and Severus exchanged commiserating looks and Tom just smirked smugly.

"Hagrid should NEVER drink anything stronger then tea!" Severus explained to the five members of the group who didn't know what was wrong with Hagrid having a drink.

"I don't know about that. I find that it makes him extremely … informative," Tom smirked.

"Unless the questions have anything to do with me," Harry said, smirking back at the Heir of Slytherin.

Severus stared at Harry in shock. "What?"

"Harry has Hagrid's full respect and devotion. We tested how deep it was by polyjuicing Ron, Ginny and a few others and getting him drunk and asking questions about Tom, Harry's parents, Dumbledore, me, Neville, Luna and Harry. Of all the info we got – all factual – we got nothing out of him about Harry. He even broke through Veritaserum to keep from betraying Harry's trust," Hermione said, shrugging as though it was nothing.

"Is that possible?" Severus whispered, face paling every minute.

"If your will to keep the information safe is strong enough, you can beat the truth serum," Luna stated before smirking slightly at the black-clad man. "If you are a private person and have it enough, you also build up an immunity to it. The four of us and the twins have."

Severus handed Harry a small bottle of clear liquid. "Show me."

Harry shrugged and opened it before handing it to Neville to test. When Neville nodded, indicating that it was in fact veriteserum, he gave a half-smirk. "Ok. Draco, can we use you as the control? Thanks." Without waiting for an answer, Harry walked over to Draco and administered the three drops that were required for the potion to work. "Whatever questions I ask Draco, you can ask me Professor. What is your name?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"What house are you in at Hogwarts?"

"Slytherin."

"What were you doing at midnight last night?"

"Sleeping."

Harry smirked at the blonde who was being administered the antidote and he swallowed a mouthful of the potion, eyes never leaving Draco's.

"What is your name?" Severus asked, bringing Harry's attention to him.

"Harry Potter."

"What house are you in a Hogwarts?"

"Gryffindor"

"What were you doing at midnight last night?" Severus asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Harry smirked. "Me, Neville, Tom, you, Draco and Blaise made hot, hard sweaty man love on Hermione's bed while she was in the shower."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Neville screamed.

Luna stood up from her chair and stood in front of Harry with her arms crossed and one of her feet tapping on the ground. "And why wasn't I invited?"

Hermione, Luna, Neville and Harry laugh so hard that they have tears streaming down their faces at the looks on the Slytherin's faces when they realised that 1) Harry could lie through a large dose of Veriteserum and 2)Apparently Ravenclaws and Gryffindor's were into kinky sex games.

_**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled crisp packets in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath**_

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna groaned as one. "We could go one of them."

The chimes that were slowly becoming familiar to the Slytherins sounded and they watched as the four 'light' teens tilted their heads to the left.

"Wonderful!" they chorused.

Draco shook his head. "The four of them are confusing me," he sighed.

"Elise said she'll organise baths for tonight. Everyone gets an individual one. Just don't worry about anything you may hear from our bathroom," Luna said as she walked past them to get a drink.

Blaise raised an eyebrow at that statement, thinking about what she could mean about that.

Neville grinned at the slightly squicked look on Blaise's face before he gave in. "Harry gives excellent massages."

Draco looked at Harry and blinked at him. Was there anything that Wonder Boy couldn't do?

Harry smirked at Draco. "Yes, I can't read minds."

Draco blinked at him before turning around and walking to the other side of the room. Hermione and Harry giggled softly.

_**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs and a bottle of some amber liquid which he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**_

"There he goes, drinking again," Neville sighed. "No wonder us kids think drinking is cool. All the adults around us drink ... Hell, our Head of Family drinks and he isn't even LEGAL yet.

"At least I stop at one or two Neville," Harry deadpanned. "I've never been drunk and I doubt I ever will be."

Neville nodded. "At least there is that."

_**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**_

_**The giant chuckled darkly.**_

"_**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' any more, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful,**_

"You thought sausages cooked on an open flame was the most wonderful thing you'd ever tasted?" Lucius asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Yep! Better even then chocolate!" Harry said with a large grin.

Neville, Luna and Hermione looked at Harry with wide eyes. "Ok ... Who are you, and what have you done to the real Harry."

_**But he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**_

_**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**_

Narcissa flinched slightly, struggling to keep her nose from wrinkling with disgust

"_**Call me Hagrid," he said. "Everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm keeper of keys at Hogwarts – yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**_

"_**Er – no," said Harry.**_

_**Hagrid looked shocked.**_

"_**Sorry," Harry said quickly.**_

"_**Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't getting' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know about' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learnt it al?"**_

"_**All what?" asked Harry.**_

"_**ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wiat jus' one second!"**_

_**He had leapt to his fee. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**_

"_**Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy – this boy! – knows nothin' abou' – about ANYTHING?"**_

_**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**_

"_**I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff."**_

_**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parent's world."**_

"_**What world?"**_

_**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**_

"_**DURSLEY!" he boomed.**_

_**Uncled Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like 'Mimblewimble'. Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**_

"_**But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean they're famous! You're famous!"**_

"_**What? My – my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"**_

"_**Yer don' know … yer don' know …" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**_

Hermione jumped excitedly in her chair, clapping her hands. "Harry! That rhymes!"

Harry rolled his eyes slightly when he was positive that Hermione wouldn't see what he was doing. "Yes, 'Mione. Hair rhymes with stare."

"_**Yeh don' know what yer are?" he said finally.**_

_**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**_

"_**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**_

_**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**_

"_**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**_

"_**Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**_

"_**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**_

_**Aunt petunia gave a gasp of horror.**_

"_**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. Harry – yer a wizard."**_

_**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**_

"_**I'm a what?" gasped Harry.**_

"_**A wizard, o' course,' said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like your, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**_

Everyone was silent as they either wallowed in happy memories (Harry) or allowed the speech of Hagrid's to sink in properly.

"When we get out of here, remind me to apologise to him," Draco whispered to Pansy and Blaise, who nodded in agreement.

"Lucius, see what you can do about getting Hagrid's mane cleared of what he was expelled for, I'll pay for his replacement wand. Narcissa, I now that he is – for lack of a better word – an oaf, but would you consider teaching him with the Gryffindor head of house over the summer?" Tom asked, feeling guilty for the first time that he could remember over something he had done.

"Of course, My Lord," Narcissa answered truthfully ... unless he had to come into her house ...

_**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellweish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**_

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)**_

_**Dear Mr Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.**_

"I have a stupid question to ask," Harry drawled. "If a muggleborn doesn't know they have magic and they get this letter in the mail, like I did at first, why are they told that the people who sent the letter awaits their owl?"

"Normally someone will go and visit the muggleborn student in question so the need for an owl is unnessesary, but it is still in there because no-one in the education system believes that muggle-born, half-blood and pure-blood students should be treated any differently."

Hermione snorted in disgust. "I didn't. I got the letter and then a visit from an old goat offering to pay me with books and money to befriend some kid I didn't know. I refused to take it and still ended up being his friend. And muggle-born, half-blood and pure-blood students should be treated differently. Muggle-born and Pure-blood students are at a great disadvantage when compared to half-blood students. Half-blood students have knowledge of both worlds and so can interact with both Muggle-born and Pure-blood students without making a fool of themselves in front of either, while Muggle-borns can't talk to pure-bloods or vice versa without sounding like an absolute idiot because neither of them knows about the other's world. I only survived my first year because I am a know-it-all bookworm and memorised every book that I could lay my hands on."

Tom and Narcissa growled at the mention of Albus Dumbledore and then turned thoughtful as they listened to the rest of Hermione's speech, both nodding their agreement to what it was that she was saying. Harry watched them with pride shining in his eyes.

_**Yours sincerely, **_

_**Minerva NcGonagall**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

_**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. Ater a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**_

"_**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl – a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl –**_

" That poor, poor owl," Harry giggled, causing both Blaise and Pansy toedge away from him.

_**A long quill and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a not which Harry could read upside down:**_

_**Dear Mr Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter. Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

_**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door and threw the owls out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. Harry realised his mouth was open and closed it quickly**_

_**.**_

"_**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**_

"_**He's not going," he said.**_

_**Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**_

"_**A what?" said Harry, interested.**_

"_**A Muggle," said Hagrid. "It's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on.'**_

"_**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, 'swore we'd stamp it out of him!**_

Tom's, Lucius' and Severus' heads snapped towards the book. "WHAT!"

"I almost feel sorry for them," Draco commented. He knew what his father and godfather were like at their fiercest.

"I do feel sorry for them," Hermione stated in her no-nonsense way causing everyone to look at her in confusion and her to smirk at them. "They've been marked for death by Harry – not even Tom has had that pleasure – and I can assure you, Harry is one sadistic bitch!"

Harry grinned at her as though he was the cat that cot the canary. "Only for you Sweetie," he purred, eyes half closed.

"Yeah, right – You love it," Hermione snorted.

"Oh well, everyone needs a hobby. Just because I have a unique way of using pins and needles in mine doesn't mean a thing," Harry said with a shrug and a sexy half smile.

I don't think we want to know," Blaise and Pansy dead-panned.

"Believe us, you don't," Neville and Luna replied dreamily.

_**Wizard indeed!"**_

"_**You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a – a wizard?"**_

"_**Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that – that school – and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was – a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**_

"LILY WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL STUDENT YOU FLAT-CHESTED, HORSE-FACED COW! SHE WOULD NEVER DO MAGIC OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL! IF YOU SAY ONE MORE BAD THING ABOUT HER, I'M GOING TO –" Severus raised to his feet in his anger and started shouting at the book in a rapidly paling Narcissa's hands.

"PROFESSOR! SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Harry shouted, hands covering Luna's ears as tears of pain ran down her face. "NO ONE HARMS ONE OF MINE!"

Severus sat down hastily with his jaws clamped shut and his hands folded neatly in his lap and a slight blush on his cheeks.

Lucius sniggered. "You were yelling at a book."

Severus' blush deepened.

_**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**_

"_**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as – as – abnormal – and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**_

"Elise? My needles please," Harry asked sweetly with a calm smile on his face causing Hermione, Luna and Neville to shudder as a single being. Pins and needles appear at Harry's side with a life-sized Petunia Dursley doll. "Thanks Luv." He reached into the neatly organised container and stroked the long needles inside it lovingly before pulling one out and shoved it violently under the nail of the doll while he hummed a happy sounding song.

Everyone who was watching him paled dramatically as they watched him force pin after pin into the now animated doll.

"I want her dead dead dead!" Severus chanted softly under his breath.

"Death is too good for her." Harry replied absent-mindedly before looking up to see everyone but Severus watching him and pale green. "Oh, Sorry Narcissa." He put the pins and needles away and the doll disappeared. "I'm finished now. You can continue if you'd like."

_**Harry had gone very white. "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**_

"_**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**_

"_**But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**_

_**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. "I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble getting' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh – but someone's gotta – yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**_

_**He threw a dirty look at the Durselys. "Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh – mind, I can't tell yeh everthin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it …"**_

_**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with – with a person called – but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows –"**_

" Yes, everyone in the Wizarding world knows his name, but thanks to an old coot that I'm sure slept with his brother while in goat form, I had never believed magic was real, so I was therefore in the MUGGLE world," Harry said in the most sarcastic way he could. He glared at Tom as he snorted into his cup in amusement.

"_**Who?"**_

"_**Well – I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**_

"_**Why not?"**_

"_**Gulpin' Gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went … bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse.**_

" No he's not. He's such a sweet little kitten. How could you possibly think him bad?" Hermione said with a slight pout to her lips. Harry sighed and pat her on the head softly while everyone else just started at the two of them as if they had lost their minds.

_**His name was …"**_

_**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out. **_

"_**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**_

"_**Nah – can't spell it. All right – Voldemort."**_

"H-H-How?" Tom spluttered in shock as the other adults in the room allowed their jaws drop in astonishment and the students to look at Harry with eyes as big as dinner plates.

Harry looked at them in confusion. "What?"

"You got him to say Voldemort. How?" Tom asked again, this time without the spluttering.

"By being innocent," Harry said with an innocent look on his face making Hermione, Neville, Draco, Severus, Luna and tom to snort in amusement.

"Harry, you've never been innocent," Neville stated with amusement showing clearly in his eyes.

"He didn't know that back then now did he," Harry said with a smirk that made even Draco proud.

"I think I like this version of you Pott … Harry," Draco drawled lazily.

_**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this – this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too – some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was getting' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches … Terrible things happened. He was takin' over. "Course, some stood up to him – an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe place left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dudmbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of.**_

" Not scared – Terrified. I maintain that that man is the reason I lost my sanity in the first place," Tom said.

"And I'm the antidote? Awww, how sweet!" Harry said in a saccharine sweet voice before he blew Tom a kiss and batted his eyelids at him in slightly flirtatious manner.

"And what do you think you are doing?" Tom asked, inching away from the teen.

"I KNEW IT!" Harry shouted gleefully. "YOU HAVE A THING FOR AUNTIE MINNIE!"

Hermione, Neville and Luna started to choke.

"Minnie? As in?" Lucius started, wondering if it was worth the knowledge.

"Professor McGonnagal," Neville managed to choke out.

Tom blushed slightly making Severus' face pale slightly.

"My Lord?"

"Glad them dreams weren't due to my subconscious," Harry said cheerfully making Tom's blush get deeper than anyone thought possible.

_**Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day!**_

" Only because of favouritism!" Harry and Severus shouted out. Severus looked at Harry with wide eyes, forgetting that he shouldn't be so surprised at what the younger male would do or say.

_**Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tired to get 'em on his side before …**_

"I tried, but I couldn't get close enough to them. I got Pettigrew instead, and he made it worse," Tom sighed in regret.

"Why not let Nagi eat him?" Harry asked, head tilted to the right with curiousity.

Lucius, Severus and Narcissa exchanged looks and whispered, "Nagi?"

Tom shrugged. "I enjoy hearing him whimper."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Eww?"

"HARRY!"

_**Probably knew they they were too close ter Dubledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**_

"_**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em … maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en ten years ago. Youw as just a year old. He came ter yer house an' – an' –"**_

_**hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. "Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad – knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find – anyway –**_

" Lily/Mum, yes, but James/Dad, no!" harry and Severus once again chorused.

Everyone in the room looked at Harry in shock.

"What? You think that with some of the things that I've learnt about him over this year that I don't agree that he was an arrogant bastard? I may have to act like him to keep some idiots happy, but I'm not proud of him," Harry stated.

Lucius put a hand on Severus' shaking shoulder in a rare show of comfort as the man softly whispered, "thank you."

"_**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then – an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing – he trid to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then.**_

" I don't blame him if he did," harry murmured dreamily, eyes hazy with happiness.

Tom looked at him with eyes that were slightly wider than normal as he wondered whether or not it was safe for everyone that the two of them were joined at the mind.

_**But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. Tha't what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh – took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even – but it didn't work on you, an' tat's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age – the McKinnons, the Bones,**_

" I did not kill the Bones family! I was trying to get them over to my side. Almost had them too, before the damn Order of the flaming turkeys appeared!" Tom said, scowling deeply at the book.

_The Prewetts – an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."_

_Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As if Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before – and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life – a high, cold, cruel laugh._

Everyone looked at Harry with wide eyes making Harry scowl at them. Even if the adults were new to this, he knew that those his own age knew that he hated being stared at with a passion he normally reserved for He-Of-The-Twinkly-Eyes and the Weasley family … minus two.

_**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**_

"_**Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot …"**_

"_**Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped, he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**_

"_**Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled. "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured –**_

Everyone in the room growls and Narcissa yelps as Hermione throws a burning hex at the book.

_**And as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion –**_

"I've changed my mind after reading that. I want the fat man," Narcissa growled, eyes almost aglow with rage.

"I'll give him to you on two conditions," Harry said seriously, knocking her out of her building temper.

"What are they?"

"The first is that you make it as painful for him as possible," Harry stated, leaning forward slightly and templing his hands.

"Agreed," she said quickly.

"The second is that I get to watch," Harry said with a smirk that made even Lucius shudder in fear.

"Agreed!" Narcissa said, nodding once.

Harry nodded back. "Then we have a deal." Everyone watched in awe as magic surrounded them, completing the deal.

_**Asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types – just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end –"**_

_**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley – I'm warning you – one more word …"**_

_**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**_

"Think he'll change sides?" Tom asked Harry, only half-joking.

"He will if I ask him. As would Minnie," Harry smirked.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked, eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion.

"They are both loyal to me and me only," Harry said as though he was revealing nothing of interest.

Tom whined and pouted slightly. "Why do you get respect like that and I don't?"

"Maybe because I earn it?" harry stated, eyebrow raised in a way that made him look at tom with an 'are you really that stupid' look.

Tom pouted even more once he saw Harry's face.

"You'd be a wonderful mother or father one day, Harry," Hermione giggled.

"Don't forget Godfather!" Harry grinned.

Hermione chuckled at the glee on Harry's face. "No, can't forget Godfather, can we. Or Uncle."

Harry gave Hermione a cheeky grin that maked him look more like his father than ever before.

"_**That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down o the sofa which this time sagged right down to the floor.**_

_**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. "But what happened to Vol – sorry – I mean, You-Know-Who?"**_

"I do?" Harry asked mockingly. "I do know who? But what if the You-Know-Who I was talking about wasn't the one that he was talking about. What if I was talking about our dear lovable rat, but he was talking about Paddy from the market down the street from where Seamus lives?"

"Harry, stop procrastinating!" Hermione said dryly to the laughter of Neville and Luna.

"_**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest mystry, see … he was getting' more an' more powerful – why'd he go? Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left inhim to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back."**_

"_**Most of us reackon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' going on that night he hadn't counted on – I dunno what it was, no one does – but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**_

_**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling please and proud, felt quiet sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard?**_

"You really should have been in Slytherin, Harry," Tom sighed.

**Don't I know it, **Harry hissed in reply.

_**If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football? "Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I could be a wizard."**_

_**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. "Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared, or angry?"**_

_**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it … every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he Harry, had been upset or angry … chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach … dreading going to school with that ridiculous hair-cut, he'd managed to make it grow back … and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realising he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**_

Tom laughed joyfully at the memory of the snake loose in the muggle zoo as Harry's face turned thoughtful. "I do hope the dear managed to get to Brazil like he wanted."

_**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**_

"_**See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard – you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**_

_**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight. "Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish – spell books and wands and –"**_

"_**If he wants to go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever sine he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' hell be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled –"**_

"_**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**_

"Wrong mo-ove!" Hermione, Neville and Luna sang while Harry smiled dreamily in rememberance.

_**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head. "NEVER –" he thundered, "-INSULT – ALBUS – DUMBLEDORE – IN – FRONT – OF – ME!"**_

_**He bought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley – there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**_

Laughter echoed throughout the room once more.

"OH dear," Neville said, struggling to calm down.

" Next time he tries to hit on me when I come over to see you, I might just have to turn him into a wrackspurt," Luna said decisively.

"You could just bite him – Might leave a horrible taste in your mouth though," Harry suggested, giggling slightly.

"No thank you, but I do need to feed today sometime. Neville is on that potion til the beginning on next year so would you mind … " Luna trailed off hopefully.

Harry smiled softly at the blonde-haired girl. "Now or later, Love?"

"Nev? Have you got the potions?" Luna asked.

Neville hands the potions to Harry, who drinks them without question before holding his wrist out for Luna to bite into with the Slytherins watching with shocked eyes. Luna finished feeding and releases Harry's wrist after closing the holes in his flesh.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" Severus bellowed.

"We'll explain after this chapter, ok sir?" Hermione sighed. She had the feeling that they would be explaining much more than they really wanted to in the next few weeks.

"You had better, Miss Granger!" Severus sneered, narrowing his eyes at her, causing Harry to growl at him in warning.

_**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**_

_**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**_

"_**Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was to much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**_

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks. "All too true."

_**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. "Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm – er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff – one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job-"**_

"_**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**_

"_**Oh, well – I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er – got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**_

"He doesn't think that now!" Harry, Neville, Hermione and Luna chorused with large smirks on their faces.

"_**Why were you expelled?"**_

"_**It's getting' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**_

_**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**_

"_**You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**_

" That was the most comfortable and warmest sleeps I've ever had. Not to mention that dormice are very big snugglers," Harry said as he scribbled something on the paper before he looked at the time and jumped up. "I'll be right back. I'm just going to put lunch into the oven." The Slytherins in the room blinked. They hadn't been expecting the boy to do that.

They looked at Hermione, who was reading what Harry had scribbled down and shaking her head, chuckling. "That boy will be the death of us, Neville, I'm sure of it."

Neville looked at her with amusement. "Did you believe anything else, Hermione. I mean, he's Harry Potter."

"What did he write this time?" Luna asked.

"He wrote, 'Didn't make the hut fall down on top of the Muggles just for fun.'"

As the three of them chuckled softly, Severus was waiting impatiently for the boy to return from the kitchen. When he appeared, Severus pounced. "Alright. Now you will tell us what the Hell just happened between you and the Lovegood girl!" Harry looked at Severus with eyes dark with rage, making the older man to gulp and step back.

"First of all, Sir, you may be allowed to treat me like crap all the time, but in this room, you will NOT disrespect me unless I disrespect you first. I have already proven to you that I can – and will – kill if given the chance, and in this room, no one will be able to sense me cast unforgivables. Secondly, I will tell you when I am good and ready. Now sit down and wait till we all have a cuppa in our hand, and then we will explain."

Severus slowly sat down, only barely hiding his tremors of fear. Ten minutes later, everyone had either a tea, coffee or hot cocoa in their hands and were waiting for someone to talk.

"If you couldn't guess from what happened before, I have a Vampiric nature," Luna started. "I was bitten the year after my mother died. My father didn't mind and he let my Sire stay with us while he taught me what I needed to know. Neville is my mate – he is who I am going to be spending eternity with – well, until I decide that it is my time to go. I normally feed from him, but due to a curse that hit him earlier this year, I have not been able to feed from him because his blood could kill me if I did. Harry has been allowing me to feed from him since a week after the school year started. He's met my Sire, and for some reason, Aldron adores him. I've never seen Aldron beg, but he did so after he tasted Harry."

Harry smiled, eyes focused on something in the past. "He wants to turn me. I keep telling him no, but he isn't giving up. I ended up telling him to stop begging and let me think it over and I would give him my answer when I decide. I think I will let him turn me, but not yet. At them moment, I'm enjoying being human too much – not to mention that when I get turned, Hermione and Neville will be turned as well – and we don't want that to happen while Hermione is pregnant. When we turn, we will find our mates – and Hermione's better agree to look after her child, because if not, I will be the one to tear him apart and she can survive on blood donations like most agree to."

The Slytherins exchanged glances. It wasn't every day that you heard that someone was thinking about allowing themself to be turned into a vampire. Lucius and Severus exchanged knowing glances. Before turning to the group of four.

"If you decide to turn, then we will support you in the decision. Severus here has fae-blood in him, Draco and myself have Dark Elf blood, Narcissa has Light Elf blood, while Blaise and Pansy have Vampiric and Drakonic blood respectively," Lucius said. "We will also aid you in your search for your mates, should you need it."

The four looked at each other and smiled. "We thank you for your support and, should we need it, we will accept your aid," Harry spoke for the group. "Now, How about we start on the next chapter since we have another … forty minutes till lunch is cooked?"

Tom smirked. "That sounds like a wonderful idea. I do believe that it is Severus' turn to read, is it not?"

Everyone laughed at the Potion Masters groan of despair.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After several minutes of groaning, the Potions Master picked up the book, opening it to the correct page.

_Chapter five – Diagon Alley_

_The next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight._

Harry caught the moan of desire coming from his throat before it reached his lips. Damn the man had the voice of wet dreams!

'_It was a dream,' he told himself firmly. 'I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard." There was suddenly a loud tapping noise. 'And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door,' Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream._

Severus, Lucius and Tom looked at Harry with eyebrows raised in question.

"I was 11 and lived with abusive muggles. What do you expect me to think?" he asked them scornfully in return.

"You are not going back there! You will be coming back to the Manor where you will be close enough for me to mother and if you don't, I will find a way to kidnap you anyway!" Narcissa babbled while pulling a resigned Harry into a hug.

Pansy? Can you tell me if this is a female thing or if it is a pregnant thing?" Harry gasped out.

"I'm/she's not pregnant!" Draco, Narcissa and Lucius choroused.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the slightly scowling trio. "Are you so sure about that? Isn't there a spell or something that you can use to find out?"

Neville sighs and casts the spell before anyone can move. A blue light surrounds Narcissa's stomach region resulting in Lucius fainting, Narcissa to gape down at her abdomen and Draco to whisper something under his breath in shock.

"I think it may be a bit of both, really," Pansy said thoughtfully. "'Cissa may feel like that towards you, but she never would have revealed it if she wasn't pregnant … well, she wouldn't have jumped you and blabbered the way she did.

Harry nodded his understanding. "Well, that makes sense to me, but I have a question to ask." He stretches before indicating to the still form of the Malofy Lord. "Is anyone going to enervate Sleeping Beauty there?"

Hermione and Tom choke on their laughter while everyone else just stares at harry as though he had just announced to the world that he was an exotic dancer named Shirley and he'd defeated the Dark Lord by giving him a lap dance. Harry sighed in frustration and waved his wand causing a wave of iced water to engulf Lucius, who spluttered into wakefulness.

"What the Fu …" Lucius caught sight of the look on Narcissa's face and allowed the comment to die as he nervously cleared his throat.

Severus smirked at his old friend and mouthed 'whipped' in his direction.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

"_All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up." He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak._

_Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered on to the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat._

"_Don't do that." Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat. "Hagrid!" said Harry loudly, "There's an owl –"_

"_Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa._

"_What?"_

"_He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."_

_Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets – bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, mint humbugs_

"Oh Merlin, I'm going to be sick!" Hermione heaved as she ran from the room with both her hands covering her mouth.

"Why won't she allow me to kill the Weasel who did this to her, I have no idea! Don't I get SOME kind of reward for putting myself through this?" Harry sighed as he followed her from the room.

Narcissa got a thoughtful look on her face as she processed Harry's words. "He has a point, doesn't he? We females can get pretty emotional while pregnant, and he's doing everything for her that her partner should be doing. He's not even going to get the reward of the child calling him dad – It's just going to be either godfather or Uncle.

"Not only that, but since she's been like this, Harry hasn't done much of anything that he enjoys," Neville stated to the surprise of the room's occupants. "He's not been flying, sneaking around at night, going to Hagrids, having tea with Minnie and he's not been with anyone since he found her curled up on the floor crying after it happened.

"He's given up his sex-life for her while she's like this and I'm not sure if any of you know this, but Harry has a very big sexual appetite," Luna continued, looking worriedly in the direction that the two had disappeared in. "In one week he used to spend all his free time, even nights, with my Sire. The more time he spent with him, the easier it was for him to control his temper but that all stopped when we discovered what Ron had done. And even though I love her, I have to admit that it is her fault, not Harry's. That is one of the reasons my Sire likes him. He's not complaining about not being able to scratch the itch of needing to mate, when we all know that in anyone else, they would be fucking the first thing available.

"What do you mean by mate?" Narcissa asked, curious despite herself.

"My Sire has him marked as a possible mate. He knows that when Harry is turned, he will have more then one mate due to his high appetite, but he doesn't mind sharing him."

Blaise whimpered in distress. "I don't think I'd be able to survive without sex!"

Severus and Lucius looked between Neville and Luna in shock and they only came to their senses when Harry and Hermione walked back into the room to sit on the seat they were sharing.

"Ok, I think we're okay to go. Lunch will be served in 15 mins," Harry said as he snuggled into Hermione's side.

_Teabags … finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins._

"_Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily._

"_Knuts?"_

"_The little bronze ones."_

_Harry counted out five little bronze coins and the owl held out its leg so he could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then it flew off through the open window._

_Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up and stretched. "Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London and buy all yer stuff fer school."_

_Harry was turning ouver the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something which made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture._

"What a way to deflate," Draco murmured in a voice he hoped would only carry to Blaise.

"I know. BJs are better. More enjoyable," Harry responded, causing Draco to swear softly under his breath.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

"Yes?" Harry asked, frowning in confusion.

"What's a BJ?" Tom asked innocently.

Everyone bar Harry looked at each other in embarrassment.

Harry whispered, "A Blow Job."

"Ohhhh," tom responded and blushed brightly.

Lucius and Severus sniggered at their Lord's response, receiving a glare for their trouble.

"_Um – Hagrid?"_

"_Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots._

"_I haven't got any money – any you heard Uncle Vernon last night – he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."_

_Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scatching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"_

"_But if their house was destroyed –"_

"_They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank._

Harry chuckled. "He totally didn't see the point I was trying to make. I was thinking along the lines of 'house gets destroyed so does most everything else and what isn't destroyed is stolen by thieves who prey on other people's suffering.'"

"I must admit that I was thinking along the same lines as him when it was read out," Lucius said, humour lacing his voice.

"That's because you have always been in the wizarding world, and you don't know Dung," Harry smirked.

Severus groaned. "Can we please NOT talk about that fleabag!"

"Agreed! But on the up side, Lunch should be ready just about," Harry looked at the clock that the room had supplied. "Now!" An alarm went off in the kitchen as Harry said 'now'. "Merlin I'm good!" He walkeds into the kitchen to start getting lunch ready.

"What are we going to do with him?" Neville asked mournfully as he shook his head.

"We are going to love him, because that is what he needs us to do. Love him and take care of him when he doesn't," Luna stated in her normal dreamy way.

"All too true Love. All too true," he replied with a small smile.

Harry was in the kitchen listening to the conversation between Neville and Luna while he was cutting the bread left over from that morning into slices to serve with the quiches and garden salad he had prepared for lunch. He couldn't help but smile at Luna's words as he tossed the salad and turned to slice the quiche. Placing everything onto the table he sighed happily. This is what he wanted from life. To be able to cook for family and friends, have a large crowd for lunch and have them all sit together and have discussions. No war, no meddling old coots, just family and friends doing what they had to do during the day but meeting up together three times during the day to share information, laughter and good food.

Shaking his head slightly to try and get rid of the yearning feeling he could feel in his chest, he walked to the doorway and called out, "Lunch is ready." He wasn't prepared for Pansy to hug the stuffing out of him when she saw what was on the table. "OH Merlin this looks amazing!"

Everyone else, who had come into the room behind Pansy, agreed with her. Harry blushed slightly and smiled shyly. "Thank you Pansy. The one that is on the far side of the table is Chicken and asparagus. The one in the middle is Spinach, fetta and tomato and the one in front of Tom is just ham and cheese. Depending on how much is left, we might be having the same for lunch tomorrow. Oh! And everyone has the choice of wine, sparkling water with lime or fruit juice as the drink. I hope you all enjoy it."

With them words, everyone sat and started to eat, the conversation focused on how lovely the food was and what the students planed on doing after they had completed school.

After everyone had eaten their fill, they walked back to the sitting area and Severus picked up the book and cleared his throat. "Now, where was I … Oh yes."

_Wizards bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold – an' I wouldn't say no the a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."_

"_Wizards have banks?"_

"_Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."_

_Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding._

"Mmmm, Sausage," Harry drooled.

"I think you need to go see my Sire again for some 'alone time'. You really need to get laid."

"No, I just want a nice sausage at gnaw on for a little while," Harry said pouting a little at Hermione's soft whine.

Those that had never seen this side of the Saviour choked on their own saliva in shock.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it the same thing?"

"I guess. But do you think I could have some blood sausage to nibble on through the story?" Harry asked.

Elise chimed and a large plate of hot blood sausage appeared on the table before Harry.

All of Slytherins both past and present stole some and nibbled on it in enjoyment.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who likes a good bit of thick sausage!" harry chuckled.

Everyone in the room chokes as Severus manages to force out "Moving on."

"_Goblins?"_

"_Yeah – so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with Goblins, Harry."_

"Hey, 'Mione? Think Griphook will want to come for tea one night?" Harry asked from out of nowhere.

"You'll have to ask him," she replied, eyes half closed.

"I will. He never seems to be able to resist my cooking."

"That's true," she shrugged.

Lucius looked between the two in shocked amusement.

_Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe – 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter of fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you –_

" What do I look like? A ball?" Harry huffed.

_Getting' things from Gringotts – Knows he can trust me, see."_

"You were with him when he picked it up? No wonder you managed to figure it out!" Tom raged.

_Got everythin'? Come on, then."_

_Harry followed Hagrid out on to the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncled Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm._

"_How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat._

"_Flew," said Hagrid._

"On What exactly!" Neville cried out.

"I don't know. He never told me," Harry responded.

"_Flew?"_

"_Yeah – but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."_

_They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying._

"_Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hargrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter – er – speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"_

"_Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic._

"You mean you can act like a normal person?" Pansy asked in surprise.

"What can I say … I'm a good actor," Harry grinned.

"You can say that again brat!" Severus and Tom chorused.

"Just wait till he really starts flirting with you," Neville smirked, looking at them with a wicked gleam in his eye.

Oh yes. I am looking forward to it! He can also flirt with one person while insulting the other. That is one of the reasons why Ron doesn't like him any more. He was flirting with the twins and then when Ron lost his temper and accused Harry of perving on him, Harry told him that he'd seen better equipment on a mountain gorilla," Luna giggled. "Hermione chose that time to tell Ron that the sexual equipment of a mountain gorilla is about 2 inches."

Blaise, Draco and Pansy laugh at the grinning teen while Severus just sat down with his lips shut as tightly as they could go.

_Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat and they sped off towards land._

"_Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked._

"_Spells – enchantments,' said Hagrid. Unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way – Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did managed ter get yer hands on summat."_

_Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his mewspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learnt from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life._

"And how did he teach you that?" Tom growled out at the same time Severus said, "So you do have manners!"

Harry turned to Tom. "Normally a clip round the ear, or extra chores." He faced Severus and smirked, "Only for those who weren't utter bastards to me before they got to know me."

"_Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page._

"_There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself._

"'_Course," Said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."_

"Say what you want about the old coot, you can't deny that he's a sly old bastard!" harry said, chuckling darkly.

"What do you mean?" Blaise asked, curiously.

"Think about what the Professor just read. They wanted Dumbles for minister, but he refused to leave Hogwarts, so they got this fop instead, who keeps asking for Dumbles' advice – so in reality, Dumbledore was in charge of both the Ministry and Hogwarts," he replied, just as darkly as before.

Severus and Tom looked at Harry with wide eyes as the others gaped at him.

"How the Hell could I not see that?" Lucius whispered.

"Like I said, he's a crafty old bastard!"

"_But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"_

"_Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."_

"_Why?"_

"_Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."_

"Wow … even he agrees with me," Tom exclaimed in shock.

_At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbour wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper and they clambered up the stone steps on to the street._

"Hang on? If you took the boat, how'd the Dursley's get back?" Hermione interrupted.

"Don't know, don't care, but I suspect Dumbles had a bit of a hand in that," Harry replied absentmindedly.

_Passers-by stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly: "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"_

"WHAT? HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO DRAW ATTENTION TO HIMSELF LIKE THAT!" Severus ranted. He and Minerva had argued against sending Hagrid to collect Harry due to his inability to remain inconspicuous.

Harry shrugged. "It was easy to convince the muggles that there was something wrong with him. All I had to do was say that my parents were up a bit further and it was their job to transport him from the mental hospital he was put in as a child so that he could have a change of scenery, and that no, he wasn't dangerous as long as he took his medicine, and do you think my parents would have left me with him if he had of been."

Tom snorted into the cup he was taking a drink from. "And what did you're giant of a friend have to say about that?"

"Just smiled and waved, Gentlemen. Just smiled and waved," Harry responded with a half-smirk.

Lucius laughed as he caught sight of four penguins with sunburns doing the same thing on one of Elise's walls.

"You should laugh more, Mr Malfoy. It's a nice sound," Luna said, tilting her head slightly.

Lucius blinked at the girl while Narcissa giggled softly. It wasn't every day you saw the Malfoy Lord being lost for words.

"_Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "Did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"_

"_Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."_

"_You'd like one?"_

"_Wanted one ever since I was a kid-_

"Well, he no longer wants one.," Hermione said with a pained smile.

"We gave him a pass to get into a dragon colony for 'Summer work'," Harry smirked in answer to Severus' questioning look. "I don't think he minds though."

_Here we go."_

_They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minute's time. Hagrid, who didn't understand 'Muggle Money', as he called it, gave the notes to Harry so he could buy their tickets._

_People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent._

"A what?" Severus blinked.

"It was for his bed, before the firebug got to it," Harry answered.

"Oh," Severus replied, frowning in thought.

Hermione looked at Harry suspiciously, "Firebug?"

Harry smirked. "You know, the one he called Norbet?"

"Harry, you're horrible!" Hermione giggled.

"I know," Harry sighed in mock sadness. "It is something that I must struggle through though."

Neville shook his head in mock distress. "And this is the head of the family?"

Harry smirked at him. "It could be worse, it could be the twins."

Everyone in the room shuddered at the though of the twins being the two in charge of a family.

"_Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stictches. Harry took the parchemtn envelope out of his pocket. "Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need." Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before and read:_

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHRAFT ANS WIZARDRY_

_Uniform_

_First year students will require:_

_1) Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_2) One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

"Not that we actually ever where the damn things!"

_3) One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_4) One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

_Please not that all pupils' clothing should carry name tags._

"That part hasn't changed since I attended," Tom said in surprise.

"I seriously doubt that any of it has," Harry said flippantly.

_Set Books_

_All students should have a cop of each of the following:_

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

_A beginners guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

_One thousand Magical herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Dragts and potions by Arsenius Jigger._

_Fantastic Beasts and where to find them by Newt Scamander_

_The Dark Forces: A guide to self Protection by Quentin Trimble._

_Other equipment_

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_1 set glass or crystal phials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

"Well, what do you know? It hasn't changed at all!" Tom exclaimed.

"And why doesn't that surprise me?" Harry groused.

"_Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud._

"_IF yeh know where to go," said Hagrid._

_Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obliviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow._

"_I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said, as they climbed a broken-down escalator which led up to a bustling road lined with shops._

"Neither do I," Pansy admitted.

Hermione shrugged. "You never miss what you've never known."

_Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily, all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed books shops and music stores, hamburger bars and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up? If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humour, he might have thought so yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him._

"_This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."_

_It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big bookshop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. IN fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside._

_For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe A little man in a top hat was talking to the old barman, who was quite bald and looked like a gummy walnut._

"You thought Tom looked like a gummy walnut?," Hermione asked, raising her left eyebrow slightly.

"Yep!"

"Why?" Neville asked, grinning slightly.

"Would you believe me if I said I was hungry?" Harry asked innocently.

Everyone in the room blinked at the teen who was still looking at them innocently.

_The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the barman reached for a glass, saying, "The usual Hagrid?"_

"_Can't Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle."_

"Everytime I remember that day, I always feel as if I was the 'Hogwarts Business' and not what Dumbledore had sent Hagrid to collect," Harry sighed in exasperation.

"But that's ridiculous … Isn't it?" Pansy asked, a slight frown on her face.

"No, Hagrid admitted that I was the business that he was sent for. If I had have already accepted, Dumbledore would have collected the thing he needed from Gringotts himself." Harry shrugged.

"WHAT?" Tom yelped.

Harry shrugged again. "He wanted my first exposure to the Wizarding World to be under the eye of someone who would be loyal to him to the end of time."

"It's just a pity the Grawp loves Harry and can't stand Dumbles," Hermione giggled.

"Grawp?" Lucius, Severus and Narcissa asked her, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Hagrid's Half brother," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

"He has a half-brother?" Draco asked, going slightly green around his eye sockets.

"Same mother,' Neville said, smiling softly.

"And what does this," Narcissa made a face as though something horrible had found its way into her tea, "Grawp … have to do with it?"

"IF Grawp doesn't like someone, then Hagrid is wary of them. Grawp attached himself to Hermione here, and through her, Us," Neville responded, grinning at the blonde lady.

"He never grew to like Ron though. I guess that should have been our first clue that they were Pettigrews," Harry sighed, looking blankly at the book.

"_Good Lord," said the barman, peering at Harry, "is this – can this be -?"_

"NO! No it's not!" Harry yelped, panicking slightly.

_The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent._

"_Bless my soul," whispered the old barman, "Harry Potter … what an honour."_

"Damn! It didn't work!" Harry spat spitfully

_He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed towards Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back."_

_Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming._

"He apologised for that, you know. He thought I'd," a look of distaste flashed across Harry's face, "enjoy the attention."

Severus looked at Harry in surprise.

Neville shook his head slowly in disbelief. "You didn't think he enjoyed it did you, Sir?"

Severus blushed and lowered his head slightly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Do not ask me how you've survived as a spy, Sir."

Severus blushed deeper and refrained from making eye contact with the dark-haired teen.

"How'd you know he was my spy?" Tom asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Sorry to inform you of this Tom, but he ain't loyal to you – but neither is he loyal to Dumbles," Harry announced with a huge fake grin on his lips.

Tom frowned darkly at the Potion's Master. "Explain."

Severus groaned. Trust the brat to get him in trouble for something that is natural for a Slytherin to do.

"To be a good spy you are essentially a spy for both sides – you have to give both sides enough information while holding certain stuff back, so that the side he is really spying on doesn't suspect he is really spying on them. Oh, and don't worry. If you continue acting the way you are, The Professor is yours and will remain that way – but I still get to play with Pettigrew, right?" Harry stated as though he was trying to force it through the Dark Lord's skull.

"How do you know that he's still mine?"

"Let me show you. Professor, please say the first thing that enters your mind after these words," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

Severus nodded in resignation.

Harry smirked. "Potter."

Severus scowled. "Brat."

"Slytherin."

"Home."

"The Dark."

"Acceptance."

"Betrayal."

"The Light."

"Tom."

"My Lord."

"Dumbledore."

"Fuck wit with a lemon fetish."

Tom blinked at Severus as the others in the room struggled to manage their laughter.

"My point exactly," Harry said with a stern nod.

_Then there was a great scraping of chairs and next moment Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron. "Doris Crockford, Mr Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."_

"_So proud, Mr Potter, I'm just so proud."_

"_Always wanted to shake your hand – I'm all of a flutter."_

"_Delighted, Mr Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name. Dedalus Diggle."_

"_I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."_

"_He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone, "Did you hear that? He remembers me!"_

"I'd remember him too if I got the punishment you got from him doing that," Luna hissed in outrage.

Narcissa growled at the hint of the Dursleys, much to Lucius and Severus' surprise.

_Harry shook hands again and again – Doris Crockford kept coming back for more._

"THE IMAGE BURNS!" Blaise yelled, hitting himself over the head multiple times with the cushion he was leaning on.

Harry sniggered. "You took the words right out of my mouth!"

Draco and Pansy looked at each other and shuddered in disgust.

_A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching._

"_Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrel l will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."_

"_P-P-Potter,"_

"That stutter was a piece of art, if I do say so myself," Tom stated proudly.

_Stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."_

"_What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"_

"_D-Defence Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought._

"That terror on his face and voice at that wasn't an act," Luna giggled. "He made my Sire angry!"

"What did he do?" Harry asked with interest. "Maybe if I do it, I'll finally see him pissed off!"

"Harry, If you don't make him pissed by stopping him from feeding when he was hungry, then disappear after kissing him then nothing you do will piss him off. After all, Quirrel only interrupted him while he was hunting," Luna said, amusement dripping from her voice.

Tom cleared his throat nervously.

_But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all._

"TEN MINUTES? IT FELT LIKE TEN HOURS!" Harry raged.

Neville, Luna and Hermione sighed in exasperation. "Calm down Harry."

Harry pouted. "I need an adult hug."

"NO!" Hermione shouted, tears gathering in her eyes. "I need you here Harry … Please?"

"I'm not going anywhere 'Mione," Harry whispered, sighing in defeat and hugging the crying girl to him.

Neville and Luna exchanged looks with the adults in the room and Lucius shook his head over what he was seeing.

_At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble._

"_Must get on – lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."_

_Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a dustbin and a few weeds._

_Hagrid grinned at Harry._

"_Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' to meet yeh – mind you, he's usually trembling'."_

"_Is he always that nervous?"_

"_Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience … They say he met vampires in the Black Forest and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag –_

"Tom? We already know that the Vampire was Luna's Sire, does that mean you were the Hag?" Harry asked the dark haired man with an innocent and earnest look on his face.

Tom blinked in confusion, not really processing what it was that was said.

"HARRY!" Neville, Luna and Hermione shouted, hitting him softly across the back of the head.

Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Severus whined slightly, wincing at the thought of what would have happened had it been them who said it.

"I was just insulted," Tom stated in a robotic-type voice, almost as though he still couldn't believe what had been said.

Harry grabed a handful of the salt on the table left over from the blood sausage and threw it at a still blinking Tom. "There you are. Now I've insulted and assaulted you within the last few minutes. You should feel special."

"How is it that he hasn't been eaten by your Sire yet, Miss Lovegood?" Lucius asked with his face resting in his hand and his eyes shut tight.

"My Sire thinks he is cute," Luna stated, much to the disbelief of the others around her.

"He can't help it – I have powerful puppy eyes," Harry said, bouncing with hyperactivity.

"That's true," Hermione and Luna groaned. "He can get Madam Pomphrey to release him from the Hospital Wing up to two days before he should be released – without insisting he comes back every day for her to check on him."

Draco shuddered. "That is just plain unnatural!"

"I never thought anyone could tame either of the Dragon Ladies of Hogwarts," Severus stated, looking at Harry in astonishment.

"And here we have someone who has tamed both of them!" Lucius said, slightly awed.

Harry giggled slightly at the look of shock on everyone's faces.

_Never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject – now, where's me umbrella?"_

_Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the dustbin._

"_Three up … two across …" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."_

_He tapped the wall three times with the point of his unbrella. The brick he had touched quivered – it wriggled – in the middle, a small hole appeared – it grew wider and wider – a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway on to a cobbled street which twisted and turned out of sight._

"_Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."_

_He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall._

_The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring – Collapsable said a sign hanging over them._

"_Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "But we gotta get yer money first."_

_Harry wished he had about eight more eyes._

"Bet you wished you had one of your animagus forms then huh?" Neville said with a cheeky grin.

"NEVILLE YOU IDIOT!" Harry, Hermione and Luna shouted.

"Oops. You can't forget I said that, can you?" Neville said sheepishly.

"Hell no!" Draco smirked. "I want to know the story behind this!"

Harry whimpered, not wanting to reveal yet another of his secrets.

"How many forms do you have?" Severus sighed.

"Three," Harry pouted.

"You are an illegal animagus?" Lucius asked, tilting his head to the side.

"No. I have one of my forms registered. Since no one else has registered more then one I didn't," Harry glared.

"Ok, what are your forms?" Tom asked, stopping the glare from actually killing his second-in-command.

"Peregrine Falcon, Occamy and Acromantula," Harry said stiffly.

The Slytherins looked at him in shock. They hadn't thought that Harry would answer the Dark Lord.

_He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad …"_

_A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand – fastest ever –" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon …_

"_Gringotts," said Hagrid._

_They had reached a snowy-white building which towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and old, was –_

"_Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps towards him. The goblin was about a head shorter then Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a Pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:_

Harry gets a far away look in his eyes and recites with the Potion's Professor.

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do no earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

Harry blinked the look away to see everyone looking at him fun. "What?"

"What just happened?" Draco asked, looking a little spooked.

Harry smirked slightly. "It's a spell. Every time that 'warning' is read, the protections on Gringotts are strengthened by the wizard's own magic."

Blaise whistled, "Interesting."

"_Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid._

_A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter._

"_Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr Harry Potter's safe."_

"_You have his key, sir?"_

"_Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid and he stared emptying his pockets on to the counter, scattering a handful of mouldy dog-biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose._

Narcissa wrinkled her nose as well.

_Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals._

"_Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key._

_The goblin looked at it closely._

"_That seems to be in order."_

"_An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seen hundred and thirteen."_

_The goblin read the letter carefully._

"_Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"_

_Griphook was yet another goblin._

"Obviously!" Hermione teased.

"Shut up, I was eleven!" Harry blushed.

Tom chuckled. "First time I saw the goblins, I almost fainted in shock."

"And you are telling us this even though you know that we will tease you about it later, why?" Harry asked.

"I guess that your Gryffindor-like abilities have been transfer to me as my speaking Parseltongue has to you," Tom responded after taking a while to think about his answer.

_Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog-biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook towards one of the doors leading off the hall._

"_What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked._

"_Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."_

Hermione smirked. "But it doesn't stop him from slipping up when you ask the right question at the right time."

_Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downwards and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks towards them. They climbed in – Hagrid with some difficulty – and were off._

_At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering._

_Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open._

Draco, Blaise and Pansy looked at Harry as though he had grown three extra heads, four arms, three legs, a horn and was belching flames from his rear end.

"Pah-lease! I wear glasses," Harry muttered, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Twits!"

"HEY!" Draco yelled.

Severus chuckled at the look on the blonde boy's face.

_Once he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late – they had plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor._

"_I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "What's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?_

"That's all you had to ask? You had just been introduced to a new word, had a half-giant beside you, a goblin before you and in a cart that was rolling on a track that was being held up by magic and the ONLY thing you had to ask was something that a MUGGLE could have answered for you?" Hermione half asked, half shouted in amusement.

Harry shrugged. "Well … Yeah." He smirked making the Slytherins in the room to lean back without thought. "I made Griphook laugh and that is how we now have them as allies."

Lucius gaped at him in shock. "You have made … allies … with the GOBLINS?"

Harry grinned evilly, making most in the room shudder in fear. "Goblins, Acromantula, Unicorns – of both battle and regular variety, Centaurs …"

"CENTAURS?" tom gaped.

Harry smirked in response.

"How in the world did you gain the alliance of the Centaurs?" Narcissa asked, too shocked to enjoy seeing her husband and her Lord doing something as plebian as staring at someone with their mouths open.

"Centaurs hate being bound to a human in any way, so they absoultely hate it when one of their number owes a human a life-debt – when that member of the herd is the dominant stallion …" Harry started, his smirk widening as he went on.

"Dear Merlin. You've told them that if they form an alliance with you for the war, then you will call the life-debt paid for, haven't you," Draco asked, eyes wide.

Harry looked at the blonde with smug amusement. "Nope. They are the ones that offered to be the allies of my line till then end of time because I cancelled the life dept without it being paid off. Proud beings, Centaurs."

Everyone who hadn't known this blinked in shock at the dark hair teen.

"And on that note, I wish to say something to Mr Tall, Dark and heterosexual here," Harry said, struggling not to laugh.

The Slytherins – apart from Narcissa, who had snapped out of her shock due to a wave of nausea – continued to blink at Harry.

"I do not want a war. After we finish all seven book here, I would appreciate it if we could sit down and discuss the war, our views, the problems and draw up a peace treaty. No Bumblefuck to stuff it up, No Fudge – or whom ever his replacement is. Just me and mine – including the twins – you and the five deatheaters you trust the most – but I still get Bella and Pettigrew and Nagini still gets her free meals – even if I have to shrink them and enlarge them when she wants a treat. Oh! And as long as I can torture them first, the Dursleys – including Vernon's sister and other then Vernon himself – can be targetted by anyone. Vernon is out for obvious reasons, since I've given him to Narcissa," Harry stated, looking Tom directly in the eyes.

Hermione, Luna and Neville exchanged grins and yelled, "WE CALL DIBS ON DIDDY DUDDIKINS!"

Tom, Severus, Lucius, Draco, Pansy and Blaise continued to look at Harry and blink at him as though they were brain-dead.

Narcissa, who had recovered enough to notice her husband's state, laughed at her husband and son.

"I think we may have lost them," Harry giggled slightly.

"I think that we may have," Narcissa, Neville, Luna and Hermione chorused, smiling indulgently at the giggling coming from the dark haired teen.

Harry waved a hand in front of Tom's face. "Do we have a deal?"

Tom nodded at the sound of the voice, not regestering what is being said.

"Wonderful!" Harry clapped before dumping cold water on everyone that were still staring off into space. "Wakey wakey!"

Neville, Luna, Hermione and Narcissa laughed until tears rolled down their cheeks while everyone else growled at Harry who gave them an innocent look.

"_Stalagminte's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."_

_Id look very green and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees trembling._

_Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts._

"_All yours," smiled Hagrid._

_All Harry's – it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking._

Everyone growled or hissed at this information.

_How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London._

_Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag._

"_The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"_

"_One speed only," said Griphook._

"I'm going to have to see Griphook after this to collect the money from him," Harry chuckled.

Pansy looked at Harry, puzzled. "What money?"

"You've been betting again, haven't you?" Hermione asked, shaking her head in resignation.

"We had a bet that I wouldn't be able to catch him in a lie," Harry said in response to Pansy's question, ignoring Hermione completely. "It is a well known fact to the head of families whom the goblins like, that the carts have, in fact, three speeds. They use the middle one until they can gage the character of their customers. If they really like you, then you get to choose what speed you go at. If they don't like you, then they will go the opposite to what you like. He owes me a ruby, a sapphire and a blood diamond for this!"

"You would have thought that he'd have given up betting against you, Harry," Neville shook his head. "You always win!"

Lucius, Tom and Severus looked at Harry with wide eyes.

_They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine and Harry leant over the side to try and see what was down at the dark bottom but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck._

"FINALLY!" Draco yelled, "There the Gryffindor we all know and hate."

"I agree!" Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

Draco blinked in confusion at the group, moving back slightly at the spark of insanity in Harry's eyes.

"But fuck it was fun scaring Hagrid like that!"

"LANGUAGE!" Hermione snapped, causing Harry to roll his eyes.

"After this chapter, I would like to speak to you if I may Mr. Potter," Lucius stated seriously, eyes flicking almost inconspicuously between Harry and Hermione.

"Sure, why not. You don't mind doing it in the kitchen while I work though, do you, otherwise we won't be eating tonight," Harry said with a shrug.

"No!" Tom whimpered. "Must eat! If you don't agree I will curse you, Lucius Malfoy!"

"… I think I found his weakness … and it's my cooking … how … odd," Harry said monotonously, watching the man on his knees, pleading with the blond-haired Lord.

"Harry, Luv. Anyone who eats your cooking becomes addicted to it. When you first cooked for us I heard that the twins refused to eat their mother's cooking due to it not tasting right. I have a feeling that after this stupid war is over, then you will be having a large family to cook for," Luna said from her position of patting the back of Lord Malfoy comfortingly.

"Thanks Luv. That's just what I needed to hear," Harry said with the first true smile for a long time.

_Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole._

"_Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away._

"_If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook._

"_How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked._

"_About once every ten years," said Griphook, with a rather nasty grin._

"So it's a good thing – for you – that Quirrel was too stupid to get in there or you would still be in there," harry said in a lecturing tone to the now calm dark lord.

"Please don't remind me of that, Brat!" Tom growled with a wince.

"Awwwww, you know you love me," Harry pouted.

Tom clenched his jaws tightly together until everyone could hear his teeth cracking under the strain.

_Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leant forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least – but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask._

"THAT'S IT! THAT'S ALL YOU KNEW? HOW THE HELL DID YOU FIGURE IT OUT?" Tom raged, leaping out of his chair and into a fast pacing that made most of the other's dizzy.

'**Tom, you are acting like a Weasley. Calm down and prove your worth as a Slytherin,' **Harry hissed calmly.

'**You ****so did not say that,'** Tom hissed dangerously.

"Oh I so did, and if you don't do as I suggested, I'll say it again in English so everyone can understand it and then get Neville to force a calming potion down your throat," Harry responded still calm.

"I'm guessing he is over-reacting to something?" Neville asked with the air of someone who was used to it.

"Yep. I'm scared his heart will give out on him, and I don't want that to happen till he has his chance to see Dumbles defeated," Harry said, rolling his eyes and causing Tom to choke on his breath.

"_Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid._

_One wild cart-ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life – more money than even Dudley had ever had._

"_Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous._

"He just left you by yourself in an area that you didn't know and where any dark witch or wizard could have kidnapped you?" Lucius stated in disbelief.

"Like we said – never trust him with your life," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused once more.

Narcissa narrowed her mouth until it was hard to see.

_Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve._

"_Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."_

"You meet some very interesting people in Madam Malkin's, don't you agree," harry asked before purring, "Draco."

"Oh no ... Mum, Dad ... Please don't kill me," Draco whimpered, paling drastically as the memory hit him.

"Hey, Professor, that means that if they allow you too, you can kill him since he didn't ask you not to," Harry said cheerfully.

"And what did you do to ask that of us, Draco?" Narcissa asked icily, still angry about discovering that harry had been left alone at such a young age in place that could have been very dangerous.

Draco whimpered and tried to hide behind the chair that Harry and Hermione were sitting on.

_In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes._

"Is that you, Draco?" Lucius asked with an eyebrow raised.

Draco whimpered and tried to make himself smaller so that he couldn't be seen at all.

_Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length._

"_Hullo," said the boy, "Hogwarts too?"_

"_Yes," said Harry._

"_My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."_

"Draco Abraxix Malfoy!" Lucius said icily.

"Let's wait till the end of this section to see what happens, Luc," Narcissa said, icy eyes staring at her son without blinking

"Alright, 'Cissa."

Draco started whimpering a little louder and more frequently.

_Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley._

Draco lowered his head, blushing bright red in shame.

"_Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on._

"_No," said Harry._

"_Play Quidditch at all?"_

"_No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be._

"_I do – Father says it's a crime if I'm ot picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"_

Pansy and Blaise looked at Draco with horrified expressions on their faces causing Draco to whimper again.

"_No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute._

"_Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?_

Severus glared at the blonde Slytherin student, his cheeks starting to turn red in fury of what he was hearing.

"_Mmm," said Harry, whishing he could say something a bit more interesting._

"_I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding towards the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice-creams to show he couldn't come in._

"_That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."_

"_Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"_

"_He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second._

"I don't blame you, Harry. I can assure you his father and I are ashamed of him for this and we understand that this rivalry you have between the two of you was started by him," Narcissa stated, still staring icily at her son.

"Draco was just a typical 11 year old back then. Unfortunately he hasn't matured much over the years," Harry said softly. "He hasn't had need to mature since his life is – to him – perfect."

"I'm sorry Harry. I was just trying to impress you," Draco said in a small voice that somehow carried to everyone in the room.

"Damn! I never thought he'd actually admit that," Blaise said in astoundment. He and Pansy had known that Draco had wanted to have Harry as a friend from the moment he understood what his story meant.

Harry smiled softly at him. "I know that now, Draco. Next time, just try to be yourself and you'll see that you get a better response. Anyway, it was not entirely your fault. Most of it lay with your parents and how you were raised."

Lucius and Narcissa flushed slightly, as did Severus to a small extent.

"_Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage – lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tried to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."_

"_I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly._

"_Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"_

Lucius hits Draco across the back of the head softly but still hard enough to sting a bit, while also looking a bit guilty. It wasn't until he was listening to the way his son was interacting with another child that he realised just how bad his actions had been.

Draco kept his head bowed as he fought off tears of shame.

"_They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy._

"_Oh, sorry," said the other boy, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"_

Narcissa sent a soft glare towards her son and a sharper one at her husband.

"We are going to have a long talk after this chapter Draco," Severus growled dangerously.

"Yes Sir," Draco whispered.

"Don't make it too bad, Sir. It was five years ago and to be honest, he does worse things over the years, and none of it was one-sided," Harry said, starting to feel sorry for the blonde boy. It honestly wasn't all his fault after all and he had seen the honest regret in his pale-grey eyes.

"_They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."_

"_I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families._

"I actually agree with some of that, but that will be addressed in our talks later," Harry stated.

"Hang on, we didn't agree to any talks," Tom said.

"Yes you did," Harry said innocently, ignoring the choked laughter coming from Narcissa and Hermione.

"No we didn't," Tom repeated, frowning.

"Elise? Playback for us please, Hun," Harry smirked.

One of the walls lit up with a scene that had obviously been recorded in the room with everyone in there.

_Harry: And on that note, I wish to say something to Mr Tall, Dark and heterosexual here._

_Everyone: *blinks still*_

_Harry: (to Tom) I do not want a war. After we finish all seven book here, I would appreciate it if we could sit down and discuss the war, our views, the problems and draw up a peace treaty. No Bumblefuck to stuff it up, No Fudge – or whom ever his replacement is. Just me and mine – including the twins – you and the five deatheaters you trust the most – but I still get Bella and Pettigrew and Nagini still gets her free meals – even if I have to shrink them and enlarge them when she wants a treat. Oh! And as long as I can torture them first, the Dursleys – including Vernon's sister and other then Vernon himself – can be targetted by anyone. Vernon is out for obvious reasons, since I've given him to Narcissa._

_The 3: WE CALL DIBS ON DIDDY DUDDIKINS!_

_The Slytherins: …_

_Narcissa: *laughs*_

_Harry: I think we may have lost them_

_The 3 and Narcissa: I think that we may have._

_Harry: *waves a hand in front of Tom's face* Do we have a deal?_

_Tom: *nods at the sound of the voice, not understanding what is being said*_

_Harry: Wonderful! *dumps cold water on everyone that is still lost* Wakey wakey!_

"You four really should be in Slytherin, shouldn't you?" Tom asked, shaking his head in resignation.

"No, we've just been around Harry too long," Neville, Luna and Hermione chorused, mock-glaring at the black haired teen who just grinned back in response.

"I'm so proud!" he stated, whipping away an imaginary tear.

Pansy and Narcissa giggled at their antics.

_What's your surname anyway?"_

_But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down form the footstool._

"_Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy._

_Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice-cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts)_

Neville looked at Harry in shock. "And you ate that?"

"It was chocolate!" Harry whined.

"But you HATE raspberry," Luna pointed out in her blunt way.

"But it was CHOCOLATE!" Harry pointed out in the same fashion.

"Harry?" Pansy asked slowly. "What is your favourite ice-cream flavour?"

"Choc-mint, triple choc-chip with double choc-fudge and dark chocolate pieces," Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna chorused without missing a beat.

"… Chocolaty …" Blaise murmured.

"YUM!" Harry and Tom hummed.

"I guess that that is another thing our Lord got from Harry," Lucius whispered to his dark-haired counterpart. Severus nodded his agreement, watching the two men with bemusement.

"_What's up?" said Hagrid._

"_Nothing," Harry lied. They stopped to by parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote._

"You've always been so easy to please," Hermione said, sighing sadly.

_When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"_

"_Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know – not knowin' about Quidditch!"_

"He always knows just the right thing to say at the wrong time," Hermione stated, shaking her head in exasperation.

"_Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's._

" – _and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in –"_

"_Yer not from a muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were – he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk – you saw 'em in the Leaky Cauldron._

"Yeah, scrambling to get to me like rats around a piece of cheese!" Harry sneered.

_Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles – look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"_

Severus chuckled, thinking about how Petunia would react to needing to live in the middle of a wizarding community.

"_So what is Quidditch?"_

"_It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like – like football in the Muggle world – everyone follows Quidditch – played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls – sorta hard to explain the rules."_

"_And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"_

"_School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but –"_

"_I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily._

"_Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly._

The Slytherins growled at the book in defence of their house.

"He regrets telling me that, and he tells me that he does everyone time I'm betrayed by one of the Gryffindors," Harry said softly, unknowingly calming everyone in the room with his magic.

"_There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."_

" I-know-who? Do I really? Wow! Isn't that just AMAZING! I know someone!" Harry drawled sarcastically while bouncing softly on the couch and clapping like an excited 5 year old. Everyone else in the room exchanged looks before deciding to ignore it.

"_Vol – sorry – You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"_

"Hey Tom?" Harry asked. "Would you mind if I called you Vol-e-vent in front of Dumbles? Please? Just once?"

Tom looked at the teen and started to inch closer to him before giving him a swift clip on the shoulder, making him yelp much to the amusement of the rest of the room's inhabitants. "No."

Harry pouted.

"_Years and years ago," said Hagrid._

_They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these._

"I bet he would have!" Everyone growled.

_Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away fro Curses and Counter-Curses (Bewitch you Friends and Befuddle you Enemies with the latest Revenger: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and much, much more) by Professor Vindictus Viridian._

"_I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."_

"_I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn't work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."_

"Actually, I managed to hit my relatives with one each when I got home," Harry said, smirking at the memory.

"How did you manage to remain undetected?" Lucius asked, confused.

"Ain't 'accidental' magic a bitch?" Harry smirked.

Narcissa laughed until tears run down her cheeks and she was gasping for breath.

Draco blinked at his mother's odd behaviour.

_Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either._

"I only wanted it so I could curse it so that anytime one of the Muggles touched it they would get something annoying – Like crabs, or the clap!" Harry pouted playfully at the condescending look he received from the Potions Master.

Hermione, Draco, Neville, Pansy, Luna and Blaise were startled into laughter.

_("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor, jars of herbs, dried roots and bright powders lined the walls, bundles of feathers, strings of fangs and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn honrs at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop)_

"I was actually looking forward to potions, believe it or not," Harry said calmly.

"Then why didn't you try in the class?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"After what happened in our first lesson, would you have?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"I wasn't that much of a bastard … was I?"

Harry, Hermione, Neville, Blaise, Pansy and Draco exchanged looks. "No, you were worse."

Severus, Lucius and Tom all raised an eyebrow at the kids while Narcissa giggled.

_Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again._

"_Just yer wand left – Oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."_

_Harry felt himself go red. "You don't have to –"_

"_I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at – an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry ye post an' everythin'."_

_Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage which held a beautiful snowy owl, fast sleep with her head under her wing._

"Hedwig. She was my first proper present, and so much more than just a pet. She's always there, through good and bad," Harry said, voice turning velvety soft at the thought of his faithful owl.

_He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrel._

"I don't think anyone could stutter like he could. Damn he was a good actor," Tom said, slightly proud of the fact.

"Neville {I} can," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

Luna gave Harry a small vial of a dark blue potion which he drank before he made himself comfortable.

"Ms Lovegood, what, exactly, are you doing?" Severus asked the blonde haired girl.

"Harry's hair," she responded as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh …"

Everyone watched as Harry's hair started to grow under Luna's administrations.

"_Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now – only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the vest wand."_

_A magic wand … this was what Harry had been really looking forward to._

"Me too. I couldn't wait for mine," Tom sighed.

_The over the door read Ollivanders" Makers of Fine Wands since 383BC. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window._

"That wand was there when I went to get my wand too," Tom stated, frowning a little.

"Does anyone know why it's there?" Hermione asked.

"There are a lot of rumours going around about that wand. Some say it's one of the Founder's wands," Pansy answered.

"I like that one where it was a wand made from Merlin's staff," Blaise added.

"It's actually the very first wand made by the Ollivander family," Harry announced, relaxed and eyes closed from Luna's hair petting.

"I haven't heard that rumour before," Draco mused.

"It isn't rumour. It's fact."

"And you know this how?" Severus snarked.

"He (I) asked," Hermione, Luna, Neville and Harry stated.

Narcissa giggled again, causing Harry to open his eyes and frown at her.

"Ok, Narcissa. No more sugar in your tea for you," he stated.

Narcissa pouted at the teen. "But I like sugar in my tea!"

_A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single spindly chair which Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions which had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic._

"You could feel it too?" Tom asked, almost feverishly.

"Yeah. I thought everyone could," Harry answered, frowning thoughtfully.

"Not everyone, Harry. When I walk in there, I feel a slight tingle on my skin," Lucius said.

"It depends on how much ambient magic you attract as to what you feel when you walk into it. I'm assuming that both you and Tom were difficult customers to find wands for, right?" Neville asked, smiling at them.

Tom and Harry nod at the sandy-haired boy, speechless for the first time since the reading had begun.

"_Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair._

Everyone laughed until they were gasping for breath.

"That … that poor ch-chair!" Pansy gasped, wiping away the tears rolling down her cheeks.

_An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop._

"_Hello," said Harry awkwardly._

"_Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."_

"I swear that he has creature blood in him," Harry said, shaking his head in astoundment.

"I thought that after the first time I met him as well," Tom chuckled, only now just realising how similar the two of them were.

_Mr Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. "Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course._

_Mr Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes._

_And that's where …"_

_Mr Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger._

"_I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands … Well, if I'd know what that wand was going out into the world to do …"_

"You know, I don't know why he said that as he's not allowed to refuse anyone a wand by wizarding law," Harry said, glaring slightly at the book at the thought that someone could forbid him his wand.

"Now I know how everyone feels when I sound like I swallowed an Encyclopedia," Hermione snapped waspishly.

"Hush Hermione. Let Harry have his fun for a little while," Neville tried to sooth.

Hermione glared at everyone who was nodding in agreement and turned her back on Neville.

Harry sighed sadly and lowered his head into his hands, mouth moving in a silent plea for patience.

Lucius and Severus exchanged sad and incredulous looks before turning their attention back to the book.

_He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid._

"_Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again … Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"_

"_It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid._

"_Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr Ollivander, suddenly stern._

"_Er – yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still go the pieces, thought," he added brightly._

"_But you don't use them?" said Mr Ollivander sharply._

"_Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke._

"Oh, I always thought that he carried it around to scare of Nargles," Luna said sadly.

"_Hmmm," said Mr Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now – Mr Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape mearsure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"_

"_Er – well, I'm right-handed," said Harry._

"_Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Everyone Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."_

Harry and Tom looked at each other and smirked

"My Lord? Harry?" Narcissa asked carfully.

"Yes?" they asked.

"Do you know how similar you look when you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?" they tilted their heads to the left and looked at her curiously causing everyone to shudder.

_Harry suddenly realised that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr Ollivander was flitting around the shelves taking down boxes._

"_That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."_

_Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once._

"_Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try –"_

_Harry tried – but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr Ollivander._

"_No, no – here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."_

_Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting hight and highter on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become._

Luna started to half-braid, half-plait Harry's hair, humming softly. "He is odd like that. He likes difficult people because it means they are powerful. And powerful people are magic's children."

"_Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination – holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."_

_Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well … how curious … how very curious …"_

_He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious … curious …"_

"_Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"_

_Mr Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare._

"_I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar."_

Everyone looked between Harry and Tom with their eyes wide.

"Do you think that we may be able to use the other's wand?" Harry asked Tom.

"We may be able to. Do you want to try?"

"Sure. How about after dinner and before the next chapter of the story?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Sounds fine by me," Tom answered, chuckling.

"I'm not sure that we will be able to have another chapter after dinner, Harry. I'm sorry, but I'm starting to get a bit tired and I'd really really really like a long soak in a bath," Narcissa said, trying not to pout.

"That's fine, 'Cissa. We can stop for the night after this chapter," Harry cooed comfortingly.

"Thank you," she smiled.

_Harry swallowed._

"_Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember … I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter … After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great."_

Tom smirked as Luna nodded. He had just proven her point.

_Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand and Mr Ollivander bowed them from his shop._

_The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty._

"Praise Merlin for that!" Harry yelled.

_Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawping at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the sleeping snowy owl on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realised where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder._

"_Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said._

_He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow._

"I know what you mean. I think it has something to do with the excess magic we picked up from the wand shop," Tom said, mind lost in a happy memory.

Harry nodded his agreement.

"_You alright, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid._

_Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life – and yet – he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words._

"_Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldrom, Professor Quirrell, Mr Ollivander … but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol – sorry – I mean, the night my parents died."_

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as everyone tried to not look at Harry or Tom.

_Hagrid leant across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile._

"_Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself._

"Can you see what would have happened if I had been myself?" Harry asked with a snort of amusement.

"CHAOS!" Hermione, Neville and Luna chorused, grinning manically.

"Chaos, glorious chaos," Harry purred.

"Was I ever like that at school?" tom asked himself.

"Not according to the records, Milord," Lucius said.

_I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But you'll have a great time at Hogwarts – I did – still do, 'smatter of fact."_

_Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope._

"_Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," he said. "First o' September – Kings Cross – it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me … See yeh soon, Harry."_

_The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone._

"I thought he wasn't allowed to do magic," Neville stated, confusion all over his face.

"Portkey," Harry, Hermione, Luna, Blaise, Pansy and Draco said, making Neville look at them sheepishly.

"Now don't I feel like an idiot," he whispered.

Severus put a marker in to mark the next chapter and stretched. It had been a long afternoon and he admitted to himself that he was looking forward to sitting and relaxing in a bath just as much as Narcissa was. He blinked as Lucius put a hand on his shoulder.

"Can you make your talk with Draco for just after we eat? I want to be there, but first I want to talk to Harry while Narcissa has Hermione occupied for a while."

Severus nodded and looked up to see Harry disappear into the kitchen and Draco holding onto the piece of parchment he had been writing on with a stunned look on his face. Severus had a feeling that the item Harry had written down was something about the blonde boy.

Lucius followed Harry into the kitchen and promptly had to duck to avoid an oncoming wooden spoon. He sighed, knowing that the stress of looking after a pregnant woman was getting to the raven-hair teen. He gracefully sat in one of the chairs and watched with interest as the boy moved around the large kitchen with an ease that screamed familiarity.

Harry lost himself in his actions as he rubbed the chicken breast he was preparing with olive oil, lemon pepper and thyme. The familiar setting of the kitchen was enough to calm him down so that he wouldn't either kill someone, or cry. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he almost missed when Lucius spoke.

"If I hadn't have already thought that you were an amazing young man, Mr Potter, I would definitely think it of you now. It isn't very often that you find a youngster who will stay and help a friend through a pregnancy, even thought the child isn't theirs. What you are doing is one of the bravest and most commendable things that I've ever seen, but I have noticed that it is getting to you a bit, isn't it?"

Harry nodded sharply as he put the meat into the fridge to marinate for a bit while he prepared potatoes, carrot, brussel sprouts and corn for boiling and mushrooms to make the sauce with. Anyone who could see his actions, like Lucius could, could tell that he was getting close to his tether.

Lucius sighed softly. "I know that it is hard for you, Mr Potter, and I know that you will not give up on her, no matter what she does, says or forbids you to do, but do not let her rule your life all the time. You need to take some time out of the day to do something for yourself. If you want to leave for a few hours to go and visit Miss Lovegoods' Sire, then do so. If you would like to spend a few hours a day throwing hexes at someone and have them retaliate, I'm sure that you could convince Severus, Draco, Pansy, Blaise, My Lord, Mr Longbottom and even Myself to oblige you. And if you ever need to just get away for some male company that you can just rant yourself into a corner without any fear of retaliation from a pregnant female, you can always feel free to come to me. Merlin knows that I had to suffer a bit the first time 'Cissa was pregnant, but it was nothing compared to what you have to put up with!"

Harry listened to Lucius in astonishment. He was expecting the talk Lucius wanted to have with him to be about how he was being stupid for looking after Hermione, but here he was offering assistance. He couldn't stop a single tear from making its way down his cheek. When Lucius stood and put his hands onto his shoulders in a comforting gesture, Harry couldn't stop the tears of exhaustion and frustration from flowing.

Listening to the soft sobs of the boy before him, Lucius was bought home to the fact that this boy was just that – a boy who was his son's age, and that he had had far too much responsibility put onto his shoulders. Hearing a soft sound at the door, he looked up to see Draco, Blaise, Pansy, Severus and his Lord. He shrugged helplessly as all he could do was listen to the child's dam wall crumble.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ten minutes later, Harry was once again getting everything ready once more, this time with an intrigued audience. Just as he was adding the chicken to the large steamer he had asked Elise for, Hermione and Narcissa walked in. No one was surprised when Hermione walked up to Harry and hugged him from behind, laying her head on his shoulder. What did surprise them, however was the soft kiss Narcissa planted on the top of their heads as she walked passed them.

Half an hour later, the 11 people in the room were seated with steamed chicken and boiled vegetables before them. While they ate, not one of them made a sound. When Harry pushed his mostly untouched plate away, Neville shook his head and gave him a glass of fruit juice. To everyone's shock, Harry drained it and then left. Hermione watched him go sadly.

"I stuffed up, didn't I?" she asked softly. "I don't know why it happens, but every time that I hear that Harry is going to leave, I panic and I beg him not to go – and he doesn't, but I feel even worse."

Neville sighed, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. "You have to understand that he has given everything up for you Hermione and when I say everything, I mean everything. You know how hard it is for him to control himself at the best of times, and now that he doesn't even have Aldron to take away the itch that he has … well, lets just say that it is making his life hell."

"Harry is NOT the man who put you in this condition, Miss Granger," Lucius stated, "yet he still has stood by your side in everything and he has taken everything that you throw at him with a smile. I understand that you feel the safest with him, but if you don't allow him to be his own person, then he will start to hate you, and in doing so, he will hate himself. You must let him live his life."

Hermione nodded silently. She knew that the older Malfoy was correct, but she was terrified that Harry would turn his back on her.

As if he knew what she was thinking, Neville pulled her into a hug. "You know him better then that, Hun. He will never leave us. We're stuck with him!"

Everyone chuckled and went back to eating the food that was before them.

The next morning, Lucius woke up to a cold bed and the smell of food being cooked. Casting the tempus charm, he noted that it was just past 2:30 in the morning. Yawning, he rose to see what was going on.

He found his wife, Hermione and Harry in the kitchen. He chuckled when he saw the same thing that Hermione had eaten for breakfast the previous day before both ladies, and a cup of tea before Harry.

"And what is going on here?" Lucius asked with his silkiest voice. To his surprise, the two females giggled at him and Harry just drank his tea with the utmost caution of one who was tired.

When the cup was put down, the raven-haired boy said one word. "Cravings." The Malfoy patriarch winced. When Harry went to make himself another cuppa, he found one waiting for him on the table. Sighing in resignation of the fact that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep again, he sat and watched the raven-haired man walk around the kitchen in what seemed to be a daze.

By the time that the rest of the group had woken, the table was almost groaning under the amount of food that Harry had prepared and once more everyone in the group got what they had the morning before. Harry, however, only had a glass of clear apple juice with a potion added to it.

Severus shook his head, wondering what he was doing up before 6:00. With a cup of strong black coffee in his hand, he followed the raven-hair youth into the room that was now beginning to become familiar, even though they had only been in here for three days.

"Milord," Narcissa spoke softly. "I believe that it is your turn to read."

Tom just nodded, still not quiet awake, and reached for the book.

_Chapter 6 – The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters._

"Oh no," Draco whispered.

"I'm guessing you are in this chapter as well Draco," Narcissa sighed.

Draco whimpered slightly.

"We've had our talk, so now we will not yell at you for what you have done," Lucius stated, resisting the urge to squeeze the bridge of his nose.

"But if it calls for it, we will glare at you," Severus added.

"I know, and I understand," Draco whispered once more.

_Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything or shout at him – in fact, they didn't speak to him at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it was empty._

"Wow, big deal," Harry sneered. "Not everything in your pathetic little lives is smelling like roses. The roses only cover up the stench of manure that your lives really are.

_Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while._

_Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic._

"You actually read that book?" Blaise asked.

"Yep. It's a hell of a lot more interesting then what Binns does in class – but you should already know it by now – at least, you would if your parents and/or grandparents have real pureblood pride," Harry said.

"What do you mean by that, Mr Potter," Lucius asked, eyes narrowing.

"The book covers the development of magic, the 'evolution' of light, dark and neutral magics, the separation of the dark and light populations, the lives of some of the world's most famous dark and light wizards and witches. Binns only covers goblin wars, which have absolutely nothing to do with us wizards and are 1000% better when they are told by the goblins themselves," Harry answered, not looking at the Malfoy Lord.

Narcissa pushed Lucius back into the chair and snuggled into his side. "So there!"

"Didn't you have Binns as a Professor, Lucius?" Harry asked, finally looking at the affronted man.

"He was one of the ones that always fell asleep," Severus chuckled.

Lucius blushed, making him look younger than he was.

"Like Father like Son," Harry chuckled.

_His school books were very interesting._

"Do you know how odd it is to read and talk about yourself in the third person?" Harry questioned, stopping for no reason.

"Yes," Hermione answered, even though she knew that it was rhetorical.

"Hang on," Severus looked at Harry in shock. "You read all of your school books?"

"Yep. Every single one of them," Harry answered with a forced beaming smile on his lips

"Then why couldn't you answer the questions that I asked you in the first lesson?" Severus asked with a frown marring his face.

"One – You. Two – Pronunciation. If you had written them up on the board instead of just spoken them, I would have understood what it was that you were talking about. It isn't as if I could just walk out of my room and ask my relatives how something was pronounced," Harry answered with a sigh and eye roll.

"I never thought of that," Severus whispered, eyes wide.

"That is evident. Don't worry, when we take over Hogwarts we'll teach things that are called BASICS, even if we have to pair a wizarding child with a muggleborn … or even better, add another year for those born to supposed 'muggle' families to learn the basics. That way everyone will be up to the same speed and know a bit about the wizarding world," Harry said, settling more comfortably into the chair.

"What do you mean by 'supposed muggle families'?" Narcissa asked, latching onto the words that had been slightly stressed.

"Magic is passed from generation to generation," Harry said with a small smile at the woman. Whoever said that blondes were airheads had never met the recent Lady Malfoy, that was for sure. "Even if a squib is born into a family, the squib still have magic, they just can't use it. No muggle will ever receive magic because they don't have the genetics for it. All the muggleborn students that are ever born can trace their roots to a magical descendant some time in their past. Therefore, they are squib-born, not muggleborn."

Pansy frowned at this information. "How do you know this?"

"Muggles smell different from magical beings. You can smell the magic in a magical being – squib or not. It is a very sweet smell – almost like standing in a large field of Honeysuckle, Jasmine and fresh hay. Harry has met Hermione's parents and he could smell the faintest scent of magic on them, even when Hermione wasn't there. He has also told us that his aunt and cousin smells faintly of magic as well."

"Smell?" Tom asked, making everyone jump slightly as they had almost forgotten that he was there.

"In my animagus form, I swear I can smell anything. – but that could also be because I have been feeding both Luna and Aldron for so long that I'm already starting to change slightly," Harry answered with a slight sheepish smile on his lips/

"Interesting," Lucius hummed, deep in thought.

_He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to hoover any more, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice._

"Ohhh, Eww," Pansy squeaked with a shudder.

"I think she was trying to tell me that I had to eat more, and since I was't getting much from my relatives, she tried to feed me," Harry said with a shrug.

"To quote Pansy … Eww." Blaise said firmly, raising an eyebrow.

_Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first._

_On the last day of august he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station next day, so he went down to the living-room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them now he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room._

Everyone laughed at the image of a large boy being absolutely terrified of someone who was 4 times as small as they were.

"Oh I so loved getting that reaction from him!" Harry managed to say between his laughter, wiping way the tears in his eyes.

"I bet you did!" Pansy, Draco and Blaise responded, gasping for breath.

"You do know that is classified as muggle baiting, don't you?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

Harry smirked. "He's not a muggle, he's a squib, so No, it isn't."

Narcissa smirked at the Slytherin response.

_"Er – Uncle Vernon?"_

_Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening._

_"Er – I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to – to go to Hogwarts."_

_Uncle Vernon grunted again._

_"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"_

_Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes._

_"Thank you."_

"I never knew that you could speak troll, Harry," Luna said with honest surprise tainting her voice.

"I don't, but speaking Vernon isn't that far off from it. I think I could get an O on the Troll NEWT just by talking to him. Think it is worth doing?" Harry responded with a grin.

"No. Trolls aren't worth much – even as fodder," Luna said, voice back to its normal dreamy quality.

"I can just imagine," Harry grimaced.

"Do I want to know?" Severus asked carefully.

"Probably not!" Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville grinned.

"I thought not," Severus muttered.

_He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke._

_"Funny way to get to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures have they?"_

_Harry didn't say anything._

_"Where is this school, anyway?"_

_"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket._

_"I just take the train from platform nine and three quarters at eleven o'clock" he read._

_His aunt and uncle stared._

_"Platform what?"_

_"Nine and three quarters."_

_"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "there is no platform nine and three quarters."_

_"It's on my ticket."_

_"Barking,"_

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna exchange impish looks before they all bark once at the same time before looking around at everyone else with looks that screamed that they couldn't believe that any of the Slytherins they were with could do such a thing. Draco, Pansy and Blaise smothed their laughter at the quartet while the adults just shook their heads in restrained self pity.

_Said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."_

_"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly._

Everyone snorted in disbelief.

"Yeah, I know. I was delusional. I blame the magical world for making me exited," Harry stated with conviction.

_"Taking Dudley to hospital,' growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."_

Laughter filled the room for many a minute.

"I forgot about the tail!" Hermione wiped the tear tracks from her cheeks while holding her ribs.

"Did they get it off?" Tom asked with a chuckle.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, but for some reason it seems to grow at the beginning of every Summer and it goes at the end of the Summer. Odd, isn't it?"

Everyone, including the three that knew him best, stared at Harry who was looking innocently back at them, a smirk slowly unravelling from the corner of his mouth.

"Please don't do that, you could freak out Greyback with that," pleaded Draco.

"I know. I've used it on him before," Harry said, the smirk still coming out, casuing everyone to stare at him once again.

_Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the train station in his wizard's robes – he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up._

Everyone looked at Harry oddly, giving him the creeps.

"What?"

"From what I've heard of you, you are very … unorganised," Lucius answered carefully, well aware of the boy's temperament at this point in time.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "And where did you get that idea?"

The Adults looked at Severus while the students looked towards Hermione.

"I see. So just because they say something, it is classed as truth now is it?" Harry drawled making everyone blush at the ridiculousness of their actions and beliefs. "I see. Well, let me assure you that I am organised. It's just that when I'm around certain people who shall remain nameless, I don't feel I have to be because no matter what I do will be good enough for them," Harry stated, looking pointedly at Hermione and Severus who blushed and lowered their heads, ashamed of their actions.

_Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry and they had set off._

_They reached King's Cross at half passed ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk on to a trolley and wheeled it on to the station for him._

"This could only mean trouble," Narcissa stated as calmly as she could.

"Why?" Lucius asked, looking at her with eyes slightly narrowed.

"Because the muggle that treats him the worst is being nice to him," Tom said solomny.

Lucius pailed. "Oh."

_Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face._

_"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine – platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"_

_He was quite right, of course. There was a big plasticc number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all._

_"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing._

"Your Aunt knew where the entrance was, the bitch!" Severus raged.

"Welcome to my life, Professor. If you stick around a bit, you will also meet the house-elf, doormat, punching bag and food deprivation experiment proto-type," Harry announced with fake cheer.

The Slytherins all looked at Harry as though he had grown four legs, three arms, 2.5 noses, announced his undying love for Albus Dumbledore and was now dancing the chicken dance in 12-inch stilettos and a glittery green g-string with 'honk your horn' in fluorescent pink writing. Neville, Luna and Hermione growled at the mention of Harry's muggle family.

_Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone._

_He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three quarters. The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose._

"They really should have a guard on duty that knows of the wizarding world on duty on September One, so everyone who needs help can get it," Harry announced with a huff.

"I agree. It took my parents and myself nearly three hours to find where it was," Hermione agreed. "It's only logical that people who don't have a witch or wizard in the family will find it hard to get there. Also, what about wizarding families that have never gone to Hogwarts before and one of their children have need to go to Hogwarts? There are no apparition areas nor are there fire places for people to floo, so how do they know where to go?

"That is a novel idea and a very important point. I'll have to bring it up with Fudge when I next see him," Lucius answered, deep in thought.

"I wouldn't, because I have a feeling that he will no longer be in office at the end of this Summer." Harry said, seriously.

_Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time-wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money and a large owl._

_Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tappin the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket box between platforms nine and ten._

_At that moment a group of people passed just hehind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying._

_" – packed with Muggles, of course –"_

"What happened to the privacy act?" Lucius asked, his frown deepening.

"They were fishing for bites. As you can tell, they got one … ME!" Harry said once more in his annoyingly fake cheerful voice.

_Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him – and they had an owl._

_Heart hammering, Harry pushed his trolley after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying._

_"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother._

"I see what you mean," Narcissa sneered.

_"Nine and three quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mum, can't I go …"_

_"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."_

~**Prissssssy Sssssssod. Needssss to pull hisss head from hisss head from hisss ssssuperiour'ssss arsssse~ **Harry hissed, causing Tom to chuckle at the teen.

_What looked like the oldest boy marched towards platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it – but just as the boy reached the divide between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last rucksack had cleared away, the boy had vanished._

_"Fred, you next," the plump woman said._

_"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"_

_"Sorry George, dear."_

_"Only joking, I am Fred."_

Harry chuckled with slightly dark amusement.

"What's so funny?" Blaise asked with a frown.

"It actually was George that did that. You'd be surprised at how many times the people who are supposed to know them apart get them mixed up," Harry said, still chuckling darkly and shaking his head.

"No one can tell them apart 100% of the time … well … no one but Harry that is," Hermione said, rolling her eyes at Harry.

"And how is it that Harry can tell them apart?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry smirked at the man. "Do you really want the answer to that question?"

Severus turned thoughtful. "No, I don't think I do."

"I do," Tom stated.

Harry shrugged. "They're mirror image twins. Fred's dominant side is his right side and George's dominant side is his left. Really easy when you actually get to know them.

_Said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done, because a second later, he had gone – but how had he done it?_

_Now the third brother was walking briskly towards the ticket barrier – he was almost there – and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere._

Harry chuckled sadly. "Those two are the best of the lot of them. They could easily have been Slytherin too."

Severus let out a pained whimper at the thought of having not only Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger in their house, but also the demon twins. Harry laughed, guessing what was on the Potions Master's mind.

_There was nothing else for it._

_"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman._

_"Hullo, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet and a long nose._

~**Here Ratty, Ratty, Ratty, come to me … or would you rather Arrigan? Yesss, Arrigan for the arachniphobic dimwit~ **Harry hissed in pleasure.

Tom's shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. "Do not ask me why I wanted you dead Harry, because you are so much more amusing alive!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you think so. I think I'm more interesting alive to."

_"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is – the thing is, I don't know how to –"_

_"How to get on to the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded._

_"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."_

Harry sighed. "Molly was such a dear when I first met her. Pity it didn't last because of her own son's pathetic choices."

_"Er – OK," said Harry._

_He pushed his trolley round and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid._

_He started to walk towards it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that ticket box and then he'd be in trouble – leaning forward on his trolley he broke into a heavy run – the barrier was coming nearer and nearer – he wouldn't be able to stop – the trolley was out of control – he was a foot away – he closed his eyes ready for the crash –_

_It didn't come … he kept on running … he opened his eyes._

_A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign over head said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three Quarters on it. He had done it._

"Big deal," Blaise snorted.

"I know! Isn't it great!" Harry said, beaming at him.

Blaise, Pansy and Draco all looked at Harry strangely.

Tom chuckled. "To one who is not raised in the wizarding world that is a very big achievement. It would be the same if someone of the wizarding world was to bungee jump just because some muggle they had never met had told them to. Bungee jumping is jumping off something really high with nothing but a stretchy rope tied to your feet.

Blaise, Pansy and Draco all paled over that. Lucius and Narcissa turned a pale green at the thought of their son doing such a thing.

_Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks._

"That is and always will be the second favourite thing for me to see," Harry said.

"What is your favourite?" Narcissa asked in an almost whisper

"Chocolate," Hermione, Neville and Luna teased.

Harry glared at the three of them. "No, not chocolate. There are things that I love more then chocolate, thank you very much and to me, the most beautiful thing in the world is Hogwarts from across the lake at night time. I often meet Aldron there at night so he can feed when he doesn't want to go hunting and we sit there – just looking at the school for hours. She is beautiful under moonlight.

"I have to agree with you there," Tom said with a slight smile on his lips, eyes distant.

"I think you would be a wonderful poet, Harry. If you could put what you see on paper and then read it, I think you'd have the masses hypnotised in a matter of seconds – and not just because you are the Boy-Who-Lived," Narcissa said, tears gathering in her eyes at the look of deep longing in both Harry's and Tom's eyes.

"Thank you, Narcissa," Harry whispered.

_The first few carriages were already packed with students. Some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his trolley off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."_

"Oh no, it's me," Neville grimaced. "I really must thank you, Harry. If it wasn't for you, I would still be the same shy, incompetent Puff I was back then. Even if Gran still doesn't think I measure up to anything."

"Neville, she's just a stupid old biddy that can't see what a marvellous creature you are … but then, if she did, I wouldn't have had to send her that Howler, would have I?" Harry assured the taller teen.

"YOU sent Madam Longbottom a howler?" Lucius asked in shock and a little awe.

"Yep. She doesn't deserve to call Neville her grandson. If all she can do is compare him to his father, then she shouldn't be taking care of Neville. Simple as that," Harry stated firmly, leaving everyone, including Neville, looking at him as though he were a god.

_"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh._

_A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd._

_"Give us a look, Lee, go on."_

_The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg._

"Pity that Hedwig got to that spider. It was good at keeping Ron under control. He was also a rather friendly fellow," Harry said mournfully.

_Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk towards the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot._

_"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the ticket box._

_"Yes, please," Harry panted._

Draco blushed. Lucius looked at his son questioningly, only to cause him to blush deeper.

"Damn, he's got it bad, hasn't he?" Blaise whispered to Pansy, who was giggling slightly.

"He sure does. I don't think this new Harry is helping much. He's much more attractive as a Slytherin," Pansy giggle-whispered back.

Severus smirked in Draco's direction, causing him to hide his face in a pillow and for Harry and Narcissa to slap a shoulder each.

_"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"_

_With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was a last tucked away in a corner of the compartment._

"The twins … they … they're being serious," Severus stuttered in shock.

"Yeah. It isn't anything new, they normally are," Harry said with a shrug as though it was nothing new.

"Only when you're around," Neville supplied, rolling his eyes and causing Pansy to raise an eyebrow with interest.

"Why would they behave themselves when Harry is around?" Narcissa asked, thinking back on the chaos beings known as the Weasley twins.

"Well, you see, since Harry has blood-bonded with the three of us and the twins, he is the head of the family and he takes this responsibility seriously," Luna started

" He isn't like the Arthur, who lets his wife go at them, He actually does the disciplining himself. I believe that the last time they were punished he bound their magics until they had cleaned one floor of Potter Manor properly by muggle means – and he chose a floor that hasn't been cleaned since before his grandparents lived there!" Hermione said with a slight giggle.

"No, that was the second to last punishment. The last punishment I gave to them was to lock them out of their own shop for the time that the students were doing their Hogwarts shopping," Harry interrupted. Everyone looked at him with eyes wide.

"How did you manage that?" Lucius asked in a whisper.

"Do the words 'silent partner' mean anything to you?" Harry asked innocently, a smirk fighting to reveal itself in the corner of his mouth.

Lucius, Draco and Severus looked at him with their jaws dropped as everyone else looked at him with eyes wider than a fully awake kitten.

_"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes._

_"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar._

_"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you - ?"_

_"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry._

_"What?" said Harry._

_"Harry Potter," chorused the twins._

_"Oh, him,"_

Everyone in the room burst into surprised laughter while Harry felt himself blushing violently.

_Said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."_

_The two boys gawped at him and Harry felt himself going red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door._

_"Fred? George? Are you there?"_

_"Coming, Mum."_

_With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train._

_Harry sat down next to the window where, half-hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief._

_"Ron, you've got something on your nose."_

"HE WAS TOLD TWICE?" Hermione leapt from her chair and stormed towards where the door was to be found, had it not disappeared.

Harry jumped up and stood in front of her, holding her head firmly to look into her eyes. "If you do not calm down this instant, Hermione, you will not get any banana oatmeal cookies in our next tea break!" he ordered.

Hermione squealed. "You made Banana Oatmeal Cookies? THANKYOU!" she hugged him tightly until he choked and started to turn blue, much to the amusement to those watching.

_The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose._

_"Mum – geroff." He wriggled free._

_"Aaah, has icled Ronnie got somfink on his nosie?" said one of the twins._

_"Shut up," said Ron._

_"Where's Percy?" said their mother._

_"He's coming now."_

_The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it._

"Oh Merlin No! Not Percy!" Harry and Hermione groaned in despair.

Lucius frowned slightly. "The lad who works for Fudge?"

"Yeah. He is nothing but a pompous prick!" Harry spat, Hermione nodding her head in agreement.

"Everyone told me that I was an annoying know-it-all, but I was nothing compared to him!" she stated.

"Oh yes, I remember him," Severus shuddered at the memory. "I swear he thought he could teach my class better then I could. I can assure you that I took a great deal of pleasure telling him that his answer was wrong when he took over my classes."

"I would have done so as well, Professor," Harry replied seriously.

_"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves –"_

_"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."_

_"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin, "once –"_

_"Or twice –"_

_"A minute –"_

_"All Summer –"_

_"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect._

"Those two are great," Harry said, chuckling with the rest of the people in the room.

_"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins._

_"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term – send me an owl when you get there."_

_She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins._

_"Now, you two – this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet or –"_

_"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."_

"Oh yes they have!" Harry, Neville, Hermione and Luna chorused, grinning widely.

"You mean they were the ones who blew up my toilet?" Severus hissed, his left eye starting to pulse dangerously.

"No, I was the one with the privilege to do yours. The twins targeted Dumbles," harry stated as though he were just commenting on the weather. Severus blinked stupidly at him with his mouth open. Everyone else in the room sniggered at the man.

_"Great idea though, thanks, Mum."_

_"It's not funny. And look after Ron."_

_"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."_

_"Shut up," said Ron again._

Narcissa wrinkled her nose in disgust at the boy's language.

_He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it._

_"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"_

_Harry leant back quickly so they couldn't see him looking._

_"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"_

_"Who?"_

_"Harry Potter!"_

_Harry heard the little girl's voice._

_"Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please…"_

Draco glared at the book, going red with anger.

"Hey, Harry, I never knew you were a zoo exhibit!" Blaise teased gently.

"What? You mean it isn't tattooed onto my forehead, just to the right of the lightning bolt scar? Damn, I must talk to my tattoo artist about his work not being permanent," Harry replied in a similar tone.

Tom snorted in amusement.

_"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"_

_"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there – like lightning."_

_"Poor dear – no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get on to the platform."_

_"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"_

_Their mother suddenly became stern._

_"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."_

Harry sneered. "As if I haven't been reminded of it every day since the day I was re-introduced into the wizarding world. I'm not even allowed to wipe my arse without some idiot trying to get the paper out of my hand to sell the damn thing!"

"That was disgusting, Harry!" Pansy, Hermione and Narcissa yelped, covering their ears and wrinkling their noses.

"Please tell me that didn't actually happen," Severus begged the teen as everyone else in the room made a face of disgust.

"It did. A certain person by the name of Colin Creepy," Harry shook his head as Neville, Luna and Hermione stifled their laughter, "sorry – Colin Creevy."

_"All right, keep your hair on."_

_A whistle sounded._

_"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered on to the train. They leant out of the window for her to ksis them goodby and their younger sister began to cry._

_"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."_

_"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."_

_"George!"_

_"Only joking, Mum."_

_The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved._

Harry sighed and hugged his knees to his chest and a loan tear ran down his cheek. "All the times Ron has turned on me due to jealousy, he never believed me when I told him that I would give it all up to have a family like his."

"Don't worry, Hun. You have us now. We will always be your family." Luna said as she got up fromher seat and hugged Harry tightly.

Neville smiled slightly at his girlfriend and brother. "And what's better is that you chose us as your family, as we chose you, so you know we love you, Sweet."

Harry choked out a laugh and wiped his eyes with the brown, black, grey and green tie-dyed handkerchief Luna handed him. Tom, Severus and Lucius moved around uncomfortably while Draco and Blaise shifted around nervously.

"Don't worry about him doing this. He's giving me a break from feeding the little one my magic by feeding it his. It makes him, how do I put this?" Hermione said softly with a sad, but thankful smile in Harry's direction.

"Hormonal?" Neville piped up with a small spark of humour deep in his eyes.

"Delicate?" Luna added, struggling to keep the smirk off her face.

"Royally fucked up?" Harry said with a wet chuckle.

"I was thinking maybe … All the above?" Hermione said tentatively, making everyone in the room chuckle weakly.

_Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to – but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind._

"To a point, it was," Harry said, drying his eyes and sighing in exhaustion.

_The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest red-headed boy came in._

_"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."_

_Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose._

_"Hey, Ron." The twins were back._

_"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."_

_"Right," mumbled Ron._

_"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."_

_"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them._

_"Are you really Harry Potter?"_

"He actually asked that?" Draco asked with a sneer.

"Yeah, he did and it really ticked me off, but at that time, he was exactly what I needed," Harry said, snuggling into Luna slightly with his eyes at half mast.

"What do you mean by that?" Pansy asked in confusion.'

Harry shrugged. "Who better to learn about how a Gryffindor should act then from someone who just screams 'I'd put out for Godric Gryffindor!" Lucius, Narcissa and Severus snort softly into their hands. "I also needed someone who was gullible enough to tell me about the wizarding world and I seriously doubt that I'd have gotten answers from anyone who screamed 'I'm a green, lean Sex machine' even if I'm positive I could have tamed them during the train ride."

"I have no doubt that you could have," Tom responded dryly.

"Aww, thank you Tommie!" Harry squealed as he threw his arms around the Dark Lord and hugged him. Lucius chocked on the water he was drinking while Narcissa giggled at the look of horror on her Lord's face – the same look that was on the faces of everyone else around the room.

"T-T-T-Tommie?" Tom gasped.

"U-huh, u-huh. You like Auntie Minnie, so you're Uncle Tommie!" Harry responded, nodding his head frantically.

"Uncle Tommie?" Tom squeaked, eyes going round.

"Pweeaase?" Harry begged, his eyes going round and watering slightly with fragile hope and delicate pleading.

"Fine, Brat. You can call me Uncle Tommie. Just please turn off the eyes!" Tom gave in with a defeated sigh, causing Severus, Narcissa, Lucius, Draco, Blaise and Pansy to look at the two dark haired wizards in shock.

"We told you,' Neville gasped through his laughter.

"He had," Hermione continued, holding her stomach as tears ran down her face.

"Puppy-eyes of Doom!" Luna crowed, joining the two Gryffindors on the floor in her own laughter.

"We believe you!" Lucius blurted out, still looking at the teen who was, dare he say it, snuggling into the Dark Lord.

_Ron blurted out._

_Harry nodded._

_"Oh – well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron._

_"And have you really got – you know …" He pointed at Harry's forehead._

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna growl simultaneously at the book.

_Harry pulled back his fringe to show the lightning car. Ron stared._

_"So that's where You-Know-Who –?"_

_"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."_

_"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly._

_"Well – I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."_

"Haven't we ever told you that lying is wrong, Harry?" Luna asked with a sigh.

"No, you just tell me not to get caught doing it," Harry answered with an innocent look on his face, causing Tom to laugh.

_"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realised what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again._

"You know, he knew you were famous, but he still became pissed at you for all the attention you got that he didn't," Neville said in a chatty voice.

"I know, but can I not wish that my first friend my own age could like me for who I am, not what the world sees me as?" Harry asked, pleading slightly.

"He befriended you for fame and he didn't get it," Luna said softly, "those who befriend you because they like you will be immortalized because their love for you will always show. That is the only fame that we want from you – your attention is worth more to us then anything the wizarding world can give to us."

Harry smiled at the normally odd female. "Never doubt that I love you, Hun, because you are amazing."

"I thought Longbottom was going out with her?" Draco said, voice revealing slight pain.

"He is Draco. If I had to guess, I'd say that the four of them are very close," Pansy cooed softly, running her fingers down his neck soothingly.

"We are," Hermione said softly, smiling slightly at her brother and sister. "It's gotten so that at least once a fortnight we sleep in the same bed. It is normally the only good nights sleep that Harry gets."

"Hermione, Luna, the twins and I are bonded to Harry via blood, meaning that we are all his blood siblings, but where as I am also bonded to Hermione and the twins as blood siblings as they are to Luna, Luna and I are not bonded blood siblings because I am Luna's mate," Neville intercepted before Draco could say something scathing to the brunette female.

"But … that's blood magic!" Lucius exclaimed, blinking.

"It is? Wow! Well then, that explains why there was all that red stuff involved!" Harry jumped in with faked excitement.

Lucius gave a strange look in Harry's direction before slowly trying to inch away towards Severus, who had laughed so much that he was now having trouble breathing properly.

"Who performed the ritual?" Tom asked with a great deal of interest.

"The Goblins," Harry and Neville chorused.

Narcissa smirked. "Who found and decided to do the ritual?"

"Harry," Hermione and Luna chorused.

_"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him._

Harry snorted. "Of course I found him interesting – but then again, I also found Aldron draining the life force from a kitten interesting."

Tom bit his lip hard enough to draw blood to prevent himself from laughing while Draco, Pansy and Blaise were shocked into chuckling.

_"Er – yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."_

Harry rolled his eyes. "The cousin he is talking about is the head judge in the muggle supreme court and he thinks he's just an accountant. How stupid can he get?"

_"So you must know loads of magic already._

_The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about._

_"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"_

_"Horrible –_

Everyone blinked in shock while Harry checked his nails as if he were bored.

Well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though, wish I'd had three wizard brothers."

"SEE! I EVEN TOLD THE BASTARD THAT'S WHAT I WANTED, BUT DID HE BELIEVE ME? NO!" Harry roared, leaping to his feet and gesturing wildly.

"Harry, if you don't calm down, I will tell Luna to drain you again," Neville said calmly as he started to sort through the multitudes of paperwork that had just appeared before him.

"I'll be good," Harry said softly as he sat back on his seat in a prim and proper fashion.

"Make sure you do," Neville said absent-mindedly.

"Harry only likes being drained by my Sire because he is the only one that Harry feels comfortable being weak around," Luna whispered to the confused Slytherins in the room.

"I heard that, Luna – and it also helps that he was turned about the same time as Hogwarts was being built," Harry said, giving her a slightly narrow-eyed look.

Draco and Blaise raised their eyebrows in surprise.

_"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left – Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand,_

Narcissa and Lucius blinked at the pure hatred that they could feel from the words of the youngest Weasley male while Harry squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to drown out the memory that was trying to play in his head.

_And Percy's old rat."_

Luna, Hermione and Neville quickly block their ears, sighing in relief as everyone copied them as quickly as they could.

"FUCKING RAT!" Harry screamed before he calmed immediately and smiled dreamily, scaring everyone. "Who wants Rat Flambé? Or rats rotisserie style. I'm cooking!"

"Um … I think I'll pass," Severus whispered, going slightly green at the thought of eating Wormtail.

"Me too," Tom replied, amusement only just hidden behind fascinated disgust.

"Can I at least feed him to Nagi?" Harry whined, pouting.

"No, I don't want to poison her," Tom said with all seriousness.

Harry giggled and Hermione, Luna and Neville all relaxed noticeably.

_Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep._

_"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff – I mean, I got Scabbers instead."_

_Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window._

_Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old cloths and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up._

"That would cheer the bastard up! He's such an arse!" Hermione fumed.

_" … and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort –"_

_Ron gaped._

_"What?" said Harry._

_"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed, "I'd have thought you, of all people –"_

"Sorry, but anyone who fears a name is pathetic!" Harry announced as he rolled his eyes, only to see everyone but Tom, Luna, Hermione and Neville look away from him with a blush on their cheeks. "OH … My … God. I'm surrounded by pathetic people. I mean, there are other – more dangerous things to fear!"

"Such as?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow

"Potions with Snape," Neville said with a slight grin at the man in question.

"Abandonment," Hermione stated, a hand placed over her stomach.

"Bloodlust," Luna said, flashing her fangs at them in a grin.

"Seeing Ron naked," Harry smirked, eyes sparkling like crazy.

"Eww!" Draco wrinkled his nose as Pansy and Blaise shuddered in horror.

"Being eaten alive," Neville continued, throwing Harry a disgusted look.

"Loosing a child," Hermione said, curling up.

"Rejection," Luna said softly, looking lovingly towards Neville.

"Fear," Harry said simply.

"Hm?" Narcissa looked at him for clarification.

"Fear. In our third year we had to face a Bogart with Remus. To cut a loooong story short, mine – rather then being Uncle Tommie here at full strength – was a dementor. To quote Remmie What I fear most is fear itself," Harry explained.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, puzzled.

Harry sighed. "What I fear the most is fear so powerful that I can't work through it. The only being that causes debilitating fear in me are dementors and that is because they lock you in your worst memories. *looks at Draco* When you asked if I fainted back in third grade – I had, but I was also trapped in my worst memory of the time."

"How bad are your memories?" Lucius asked with honest curiosity. He had never heard of anyone's boggart being a dementor before.

"If I were to go to Azkaban, I wouldn't make it a quarter of the way across to the island before passing out," Harry said bluntly.

"That is why My Sire is keeping an eye on your legal things. If he so much as suspects anyone is attempting to send you there, he'll be waiting to remove you from their custody," Luna said, silver-blue eyes staring at Harry with an unusual intensity.

Severus narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked between Harry and Luna.

_"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn … I bet, " he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."_

"How could you tell that early on?" Hermione teased him gently.

"I'm intellamagent," Harry responded, sticking his nose up in the air as though he were a snob.

"Wasn't you learned proper Indagelish?" Herminone asked exasperatedly, eyes shinning with amusement.

"I was too smart for my teachers. They all said that they couldn't teach me nothin'," Harry responded proudly, making both Hermione and Tom chuckle at him.

"Why me?" Severus asked the room rhetorically.

"Hmm … Because you love us?" Harry ventured, eyes shining with mischief, just like Hermione's. Severus groaned at the answer, only to jump when Harry whooped with joy. "YES! HE DIDN'T DENY IT!"

Everyone laughed while Severus looked at the hyperactively jumping teen as though he was dressed in a skin-tight white see-threw bikini with cat's ears on his head singing 'God save the Queen' in parseltongue while dancing on a pole.

Harry ran to Severus and hugged him around the waist, rubbing his face into his chest. "Mmmm, snugly." He snuggled deeper into the dour professor, humming in contentment.

Severus looked at the teen in horror and blinked. "Um … Help?"

_"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."_

_While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past._

_Around half-past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slide back their door and said, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"_

_Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches, Harry went out into the corridor._

_He had never had any money for sweets with the Dursleys and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry – but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice Wands and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life._

"Now that I've had wizarding sweets I don't care much for muggle sweets," Harry muttered, trying to keep his mouth from watering at the thought of chocolate frogs and blood pops.

"I know what you mean. Muggle sweets seem to lack," Hermione began with a dreamy smile.

"The magical component that wizarding sweets have," Harry finished, nodding his head and handing over a liquorice wand to the pregnant witch.

"Der, Muggles don't have magic to charm them like we do," Draco said with a smirk.

"That's not what we,' Hermione began, mock-glaring at the blonde teen.

"Mean Draco. Muggle sweets are made in large," Harry continued, shaking his head.

"quantities at a time and so muggles have," Hermione cut in, struggling to contain her amusement at the bemusement on Luna and Neville's faces as they watched the two of them tag-team their speech as though they'd prepared it.

"Gone for quantity over quality. Even though," Harry continued, rolling his eyes at his friends.

"Wizarding sweets are also made in bulk, you can still," Luna jumped in, making both Harry and Hermione glare at her slightly, making her laugh.

"Taste the devotion of the witches and wizards who," Harry continued, his voice betraying the amusement that he was actually feeling.

"Made them put into the entire process. You don't," Hermione said, ignoring Neville's shaking shoulders.

"Get that in muggle sweets and because of that the," Harry smiled softly in the direction of his siblings before facing the slack-jawed elder Slytherins.

"Sweets in the magical world are richer and have a more," Hermione leaned against Harry, her eyes partially closing.

"Vibrant taste and texture," Neville stated in his this-is-the-end-of-the-converstaion voice, causing both Harry and Hermione to pin him with a deadly glare each, making him go pale white.

"If you concentrate on it, each individual sweet has an after-taste unique to the one who made it," Hermione continued with one last glare towards the now trembling teen.

Harry nodded his agreement. "The same goes for scent."

"Do they really?" Pansy asked, intrigued about this new aspect in the argument of magic v smuggle.

"All food in the wizarding world does. Don't you ever notice it?" Harry asked incredulously.

Lucius, Pansy, Narcissa, Blaise and Draco all shook their heads but Severus and tom nodded slowly.

"I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, but it wasn't?" Severus muttered only just loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"You may not notice it, but your body does. Take Draco for example. When Dobby worked for them, he was the kitchen elf. Now, whey you watch him, he will automatically put food on his plate but the food that was prepared and cooked by Dobby is greater in quantity," Harry pointed out one of his observations.

"Really?" Narcissa looked at her son with amusement.

"Yeah. It's funny to watch, to tell you the truth," Hermione giggled. "Harry always watches Draco pile up his plate before touching the food. He wants to know what foods to avoid that meal just in case Dobby has decided to 'aid' him again."

_Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it on to an empty seat._

_"Hungry are you?"_

_"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty._

"You would be hungry too if you hadn't eaten that day til then," Harry said, rolling his eyes at the look in Tom's eyes. Narcissa growled at the thought of any adult starving a child.

_Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches in there. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."_

"He eats everything, including corned beef – unless his mother cooks it," Harry and Hermione chorused.

"Why? I mean, by the way the light side goes on about her cooking, I would have thought that Molly Weasleys food was laced with potions," Blaise said with a slight frown.

"She overcooks it," Harry, Hermione and Severus chorus to everyone's amusement.

"Really?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"Yep!" Hermione laughed. "It is so bad that the entire order begged her to let anyone else – even Tonks – cook it instead of her. She argued until Harry called out that the food was ready and if they wanted any before Ron ate the entire thing, then they'd better get their rears to the table."

"I remember that day," Severus chuckled. "I believe I was the one to say that Tonks could cook it better then her." He smirked at Lucius as the blonde man chocked on his laughter. "I must say that Harry would make a wonderful house wife one day."

"Are you proposing Sir?" Harry gasped in mock excitement. "Don't you think you should take me on a date first? Or at least allow me to call you something other then Sir or Professor?"

Blaise and Draco quickly jumped behind the lounge and hid while Pansy froze on her seat. Hermione, Luna, Neville, Tom, Lucius and Narcissa watched the two of them with amusement evident on their faces.

"Well, If you must, you can call me Master," Severus smirked with a mock sigh, causing everyone but Harry to gape at him.

Harry seated himself on Severus' lap. "Yes, Masssssster," he half-hissed before deeply kissing the dark haired man making everyone look at them in fascinated horror. Harry pulled away and hummed in slight disappointment. "Hmm. Not my type, sorry Sir, but you definitely are a good kisser. I'm sure that the right guy for you will appear in your life one moonlit night – and I can assure you that he'll absolutely adore doggy." Harry smirked at the slightly flustered man.

"You … How … When …" Severus chocked.

Harry chuckled and got off Severus' lap. "First, I am a 15, nearly 16 year old male and can sniff out pheromones without any problem. Second, your presence and scent just scream dominance. Third, your eyes linger rather prominently on the rumps of males around your own age – and yes, Lucius does have a wonderful arse," he turned towards the older blonde male, "don't let it go to your head."

"Look all you want, but remember it's mine," Narcissa quipped, smirking slightly at the disturbed look on her husband's face.

Harry bowed slightly towards the only adult female in the room. "Always milady." He turned back to Severus and smirked at him. "Forth, it's very easy to know who it is you fantasize about." He leant forwards and whispered into Severus' ear. "He is waiting for you to claim him. He wants you to claim him right after a fight for domination, he wants you to prove that you are worthy of his submission. Just think, having such a powerful wizard – a powerful beast – before you on his knees ready and waiting for you or pinned beneath you, whimpering in need for your long thick cock to penetrate him." He pulled back with a smirk as he watched the effect his words had on the potions master.

Severus jumped up and ran … er … walked quickly … in the direction of the bathroom while everyone else in the room stared at Harry in awe.

"Merlin I'm good," Harry whispered to himself with a smirk on his lips.

"Did you have to do that?" Neville, Luna and Hermione chorused, squeezing the bridges of their noses.

"Yes, yes I did," Harry stated with a smug smirk.

"You would have done well in Slytherin!" Tom gasped as he finished coughing due to his laughter.

"But just think of what Severus would have had to put up with if he had of been placed there," Lucius pointed out, looking slightly pale for his younger friend. Tom started laughing again at the thought of what the man would have had to go through if Harry had been in his house.

_"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on-"_

_"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."_

_"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it wth. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties and cakes (the sandwiches lay forgotten)._

Harry chuckled, making everyone look at him in confusion.

"What?" Draco eventually asked.

"They got eaten," Harry responded with a glimmer of humour in his eyes.

"By who?" Pansy asked, wrinkling her nose.

Harry just laughed manically at the thoughts running through his head.

Hermione felt her eyes widen. "Worm …" she began.

Harry nodded, still laughing his head off. Hermione joined in laughing with him. Everyone else watched the two of them in either amusement or horror.

_"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs._

"Mmmmmm, chocolate!" Harry drooled.

_"They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him._

_"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is, I'm missing Agrippa."_

_"What?"_

_"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know – Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect – famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."_

_Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long crooked nose and flowing silver hair, beard and moustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore._

Everyone growled dangerously

_"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry._

_"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa – thanks –"_

"He didn't even wait for an answer!" Pansy exclaimed, wrinkling her nose.

"I know. I could have killed him, but since I needed him," Harry shrugged.

_Harry turned over his card and read:_

_Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts._

_Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern_

_Times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his_

_defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945,_

_for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's_

_blood and his work on alchemy with his partner,_

_Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys_

_chamber music and tenpin bowling._

"And we needed to know that why?" Harry enquired, raising both eyebrows.

"Hey Harry? What did the card maker people want from this morning?" Hermione asked, turning towards her friend fast enough to get whiplash.

"They wanted to know if they could make a chocolate frog card of me," Harry smiled innocently.

"O-Oh. What did you do," Luna asked sternly, hands on hips and glaring at Harry.

Harry smirked at her then gave her an innocent look. "I said yes," He took a deep breath and prattled. " IF they made one for Sirius as the first man – innocent or not – to ever escape Azkaban under his own devices. Remus as the only were-creature to have been allowed at Hogwarts, Ron for being the world's biggest arse, the twins for just being them, Tom because we all love him oh-so-much and the Professor here for being the only man brave enough to tell the Headmaster that he is nothing but an irritating old man with a sherbet lemon fetish." He gave a deep sigh of regret. "They said they'd get back to me on that." He looked at the older Malfoys with big innocent eyes. "Do you think I asked too much of them? Do you think they hate me now? If not, can I do something worse?" Harry grinned evilly. "I know where Hagrid stores the Thestral leavings!"

Narciss bit her lips to prevent her laughter from being revealed and Lucius raised an eyebrow.

"If we give you permission, what would you do?" Tom asked in curiosity.

"I'd send them a lovely card telling them all how much I adore them and that I thought long and hard about the perfect gift to get them to show them my appreciation and all they had to do was touch the centre of the card with their wand and then when they did, it would transfer all the Leavings that Hagrid has stored to them. Do you think they'll like it?" Harry beamed

Tom and Severus just stared at the boy as though they had never seen him before in their lives.

_Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared._

_"He's gone!"_

_"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Margana again and I've got about six of her … do you want it? You can start collecting."_

_Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of chocolate frogs waiting to be unwrapped._

_"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."_

_"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"_

_Harry started as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs then looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards,_

"Why are we not surprised?" Everyone chorused.

_But Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.._

_"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour – you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once."_

_Ron pcked up a green bean, looked at it carefully and bit into a corner._

_"Bleaaargh – see? Sprouts."_

"I wanted that one. I like sprouts," Harry pouted while Draco, Pansy and Blaise looked at Harry in horror.

_Tasting the Every Flavour Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny grey one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper._

_The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills._

_There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three quarters came in. He looked tearful_.

Harry crept over to where Neville and Luna were seated and jumped on the other male teen, hugging him around the neck. "HI NEVILLE!"

"Fucking Hell Harry! You haven't been drinking again have you?" Neville yelped as he jumped close to a foot in the air from his seat.

"Nope … but I gots a secret," Harry said, looking at him seriously.

"And what's that secret? Are you going to tell us?" Luna asked, exchanging amused looks with Hermione and Neville.

"Well?" Hermione prompted after Harry nodded.

"Professor Snape tastes nice. Remus is lucky," he stage whispered to the three of them, plenty loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

Severus blushed deeply at the dark haired boy's words.

Neville chuckled. "That's our Harry."

_Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"_

_When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"_

_"He'll turn up," said Harry._

_"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him …"_

_He left._

_"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."_

"No, he can't talk. Trevor turned out to be female and she's where we get all our frog spawn from. So she is helpful. That poor excuse of a living thing is not worth anything … I wouldn't even feed it to a snake – the poor thing might get food poisoning," Neville growled, glaring at the book as if it was Ronald Weasley in that moment.

Harry gasped indignantly. "I'm insulted! That rat was useful!" Everyone turned and looked at Harry incredulously. " He inspired me to learn dark magic!" Harry grinned evilly, causing everyone to shudder in slight fear.

_The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap._

_"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look …"_

_He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end._

_"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway –"_

_He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes._

"Oh please, not her!" Hermione groaned as she covered her ears. "La la la la, I can't hear you!"

Harry reached over and tugged the female's hands away from her ears as gently as he could. "Sweetie? It is her, and you have to listen or you will miss something important."

"Do I have to?" she whined.

"Yes!" Everyone chorused, not at all phased by the pout on her lips.

_"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth._

_"We've already told he we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand._

_"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."_

Hermione whimpered. "I was so awful," she started to cry uncontrollably. "Why do you bother with me? I'm an awful person!"

Harry opened his arms wide enough to encourage her to cuddle into him if she chose. "Come here, Hun."

"No! All I'm good for is knowledge. I can't even keep a guy who only wants sex. I'm going to screw up this kids life. I want it gone!" Hermione screamed, getting higher in pitch with each word. "Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, GONE!"

"Hermione Jane Granger! What have I told you about that child!" Harry snapped, eyes blazing with magic.

"It is innocent of all its parents faults and doesn't deserve to be punished for either one," Hermione answered automatically, shocked out of her tears.

"Precisely. Do you remember what I said I'd do if you purposely harmed either yourself or that innocent you carry?" Harry continued sternly, eyes pinning her to the one place.

"You promised that you would make Madam Pomfrey seem negligent of her patients," Hermione muttered, avoiding looking at her friend.

"Now I see why the magic chose him as the head of the family," Lucius whispered to the wide-eyed spectators.

"Right! Now, as your head of family I order you to calm down and get your arse over here, and I swear that next time I see him, Ronald will be wishing for death … in fact … PEEVES! I HAVE A JOB FOR YOU!" Harry bellowed.

"You called Peevsie, Mr Master Lordie?" Peeves popped in with a grin.

Everyone, including those closest to Harry looked between the two of them in disbelief.

"Indeed I did. What did you do with the powdered erumpent horn you were going to drop into Snape's cauldron last month?" Harry asked with a dark smile, almost smirking as Severus paled at the thought of what would have happened had that ingredient gotten into any of his cauldrons.

"I did what you said. I hid it in Myrtle's toilet," Peeves responded with a cackle.

"I want you to do something for me. I want you to get a big pinch of it and mix it with a large pinch of the box stuck to the bottom of Snape's desk and three drops of the vial hidden in the back left leg of Flitwick's chair. Put the combined ingredients into the heads of all the showers in my dorm. Leave my sign on Dean and Seamus' bed with a note saying not to have a shower today and just my sign on Minnie's desk. I give you free reign in waking the red-head – make it as messy and painful as you like." Harry ordered, eyes flashing with the desire to cause physical pain.

"Yes Sir!" Peeves said with a salute. "What Peevsie do if the Baron sees him?"

"Do what any self respecting prankster would do … invite him to help," Harry answered with a smirk that everyone believed should be illegal on the face of the Gryffindor golden boy.

Peeves grinned and disappeared into the air, leaving everyone in the room to continue to stare at Harry.

"Elise? I'd like to see the end result. If I'm right in my calculations, he should turn green and silver with a fear of clothing that will rival that of his fear of spiders. If you could show Minnie this part of the conversation, she will enjoy forcing him into robes for the day," Harry said with a charming smile.

"Remind me to stay on his good side," Draco said to Blaise and Pansy, eyes still locked onto Harry's innocent face.

"And Dumbledore wanted me to fight you?" Tom asked incredulously. "He's got to be joking! All you'd have to do is go Head of Family on me and I'll freak!"

_She sat down. Ron looked taken aback._

_"Er – all right."_

_He cleared his throat._

_"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,_

_Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."_

"Even I'm not stupid enough to fall for that one!" Neville gasped out through his laughter.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that Ron won't take away your wooden spoon," Harry said soothingly as he pat Neville's head as though he were a puppy.

"Wooden spoon?" Narcissa asked, looking between the two of them in confusion.

"In the Muggle World, the student who does the wost in a class is given a wooden spoon award," Hermione started to explain.

"And if they are the worst in the year, they get a large wooden spoon," Harry completed.

"I've been working on that award since second year. I've already accepted a job offer so I don't really need to be here next year, but Professor Sprout want me to complete my schooling before she starts my apprenticeship full time," Neville explained with a shrug.

"You have an apprenticeship?" Draco asked in honest shock.

"Yep. I was asked at the end of first year. I officially accepted her offer the night before we went home for the summer last year.," Neville told them proudly.

"That's wonderful, Mr Longbottom," Narcissa announced.

"Yes. Congratulations. How did your Grandmother react?" Lucius asked, following his wife's lead.

"Thankyou Lord and Lady Malfoy. Gran was ecstatic. She didn't know that I had unofficially agreed to the apprenticeship in first year as I begged that she wasn't told. I wanted to give her the chance of proving to me that she could be trusted with the information. Sadly, she was lacking in the trust department towards my wellbeing, She said she couldn't be any prouder of me when she was told after I had officially accepted, and please, call me Neville." Neville smiled at the two of them.

"Hang on. You say that you have an apprenticeship with Sprout, but you also said you were the groups healer. How does that work?" Pansy asked with a slight frown.

"He's doing a double-apprenticeship. During the school year he studies with Prof. Sprout, during the summer he studies with my Sire's healer. She has over 300 years worth of healing knowledge to divulge, and she chose Neville to share it with," Luna interrupted, laying her head down on Neville's lap, half-closing her eyes when Neville started to run his fingers through her hair.

"Wow! It sounds like you're busy," Blaise exclaimed in honest awe of what the former bumbling idiot had become.

"I am and I love it. She teaches everything – even potions that hurt, heal, kill and suspend the body's processes," Neville prattled, gaining confidence due to their topic of conversation. He smirked slightly as he glanced sidewards at the Potions Master. "And before you ask, I've not ever blown up one of her cauldrons."

Hermione, Harry, Luna, Pansy, Blaise, Draco and Severus all laughed at the slight dig to the dark haired man's ability to terrify Neville so badly that cauldrons melt just to be free of the two of them.

_He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep._

_"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practise and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope that it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"_

"Need … air," Tom gasped, causing Hermione to blush in embarrassment.

"I remember that you didn't have friends in the beginning. What happened for you to get Harry as a friend?" Pansy asked in confusion.

"You'll find out later, I'm guessing," Hermione said depressingly, curling up into a ball and hugging her knees – a position she had gained from being friends with Harry for five years.

_She said all this very fast._

_Harry looked at Ron and was relieved to see by his stunned fae that he hadn't learnt all the set books off by heart either._

_"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered._

_"Harry Potter," said Harry._

_"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know al about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."_

_"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed._

_"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad … Anway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know. I expect we'll be there soon."_

"Don't … Don't you need to … to breathe?" Tom asked, panting for breath.

"I do, but I was excited and nervous," Hermione responded, blushing deeper than most of the room had known was possible.

Tom nodded in understanding and offered her a reassuring smile.

_And she left, taking the toadless boy with her._

"Oh woe is me, the only name worthy of me is 'The Toadless Boy'," Neville mock-pouted.

"Well, if that is the only name you are worthy of, maybe you should take on my name when we marry," Luna stated in all seriousness, making Neville blink at the blonde girl and Harry to choke on his laughter.

_"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell – George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."_

_"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry._

_"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again._

"That boy really doesn't like anyone else being the centre of attentions, does he?" Severus asked in disgust.

"No, he doesn't," Hermione, Luna and Neville agreed.

_"Mum and Dad were in it too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad,_

"Ravenclaw? Him? HA!" Harry shouted.

_But imagine if they put me in Slytherin."_

_"That's the house Vol – I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"_

_"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed._

_"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whisers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do you oldest brothers do now they've left, anyway?"_

_Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school._

"Very intelligent of you, Mr Potter," Severus stated, blinking in surprise.

Harry glared at the man. "Don't tell me I have to start this again. It. Is. HARRY!"

Tom smirked at the boy, trying to hold in his chuckles.

_Charlie's in Romania studying dragons and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles – someone tried to rob a high security vault."_

_Harry stared._

_"Really? What happened to them?"_

_"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. "Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."_

_Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying 'Voldemort' without worrying._

"You Harry, are insane!" Draco exclaimed, gesturing wildly with his hands.

"Not really. I just know what I'm comfortable with," Harry shrugged.

_"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked._

_"Er – I don't know any," Harry confessed._

_"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh you wait, it's the best game in the world –" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomsitck he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy or Hermione Granger this time._

"Oh no. Pansy please, hide me," Draco whispered frantically.

"It's not …" Pansy looked at Draco with wide eyes as she heard him whimper softly. "You, Draco, are an idiot!" she shook her head.

_Three boys entered and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley._

_"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"_

_"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing either side of the pale boy they looked like bodyguards._

_"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."_

Draco lowerdd his head when he heard the laughter coming from Harry and Hermione.

"My name is Bond. James Bond," they crowed through their laughter.

Severus, as the only other person in the room who understood what they were talking about, laughed until tears rolled down his face.

_Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him._

_"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children then they can afford."_

Narcissa glared at both her men folk, smirking to herself when they both winced and tried to shrink into their respective chairs.

_He turned back to Harry._

_"You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."_

Draco cringed while Lucius closed his eyes and held his breath, waiting for the explosion they were sure was about to happen.

"Draco Abraxis Malfoy! Tell me you didn't!" Narcissa asked in a soft, yet icy voice.

"I can't Mother, because I did. I know I was stupid," Draco responded, shame colouring his voice.

_He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it._

_"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly._

_Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks._

_"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents._

Narcissa, Lucius, Tom, Blaise and Pansy looked at Draco in horror, not believing what was just read out.

"Draco! When we get out of this room you will be cleaning every cauldron I own with a finger rag!" Severus growled, hatred and disgust colouring his voice.

"Yes Uncle Sev," he whispered tearfully.

_They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weaselys and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you."_

_Both Harry and Ron stood up. Ron's face was as red as his hair._

_"Say that again," he said._

_"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered._

_"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely then he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron._

"I see what you mean now about the best person to learn how to be a Gryffindor from was him. In the beginning you always took your cue from him – or you did until you learnt what was expected of you," Tom announced excitedly.

"Hey, 'Mione! He's not as stupid as he looks!" Harry stage whispered, making Tom blink at him in disbelief that Harry had actually said that.

_"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."_

Lucius flicked Draco's ear hard. "You will apologise for everything you've done in the past when it occurs, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sir. I'm sorry for being a prat on the train first year, Harry," Draco apologised, eyes trained on the floor.

"No problem Hun," Harry said as he hugged him.

"Hun?" everyone mouths to themselves.

Harry snuggled into Draco slightly. "Mmm, you're snugly too." Harry started to doze off with everyone watching him in slight amusement.

"I guess that it is time for a tea break. Do you think you can drink without disturbing him? He's kinda been awake since 2am," Hermione says, wincing as she said the time Harry had woken up.

"What!" Neville asked in a harsh whisper.

"I'm sorry, Nev. I had a craving and he must have a charm on the kitchen set to go off if anyone goes into it because just as I walked in, he followed," Hermione pleaded

"No. He has a charm on you and now Mrs Malfoy to tell him what and when you are craving," Luna soothed the shaking female.

"Yeah, I think I can," Draco responded with a slight smile on his face as he looked at the boy's face.

"Is he asleep?" Lucius asked.

"No, not sleeping. He's dozing. He can hear everything we say, but he's comfortable and mostly asleep, so he won't move till he has to," Neville sighed.

"So, what do you all think of the food?" Luna asked from her seat.

"It has been absolutely delicious! If that was how he normally cooks, you'd think that he'd want to work in a restaurant,' Narcissa enthused.

"He's not planning for the future, he doesn't want to make plans with anyone in case he doesn't survive the war," Hermione said with a sad smile.

"I'd love to work in a calm environment like a kitchen," Harry stated, still snuggled into Draco's side with his eyes closed.

"You've never been in a commercial kitchen before, have you?" Blaise asked with humour in his voice.

"You don't know what I've lived through in my life so far, do you?" Harry asked, disgruntled as he left Draco's side to move back to his spot next to Hermione.

"Point taken," Blasie sighed.

_Goyle reached towards the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron – Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell._

_Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle – Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking amoungst the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in._

_"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail._

_"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No – I don't believe it – he's gone back to sleep."_

"Oh he always was a lazy shit!" Severus said with a smirk.

"Why do you think I keep him locked in a room if he isn't with me," Tom asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I think we should just kill the rat. Think Hannibal Lecture would want him?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Um … Harry, Sweetie … Hannibal Lecture is dead," Hermione said in a soothing voice, so as not to make Harry upset.

"Sure, ruin all my fun. Oh well, I still can dream," Harry pouted.

And so he had.

"You've met Malfoy before?"

Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.

"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."

"Of course he didn't need a reason. He is dark! The Professor is grey, as is Draco, Blaise and Pansy, but they are more dark then light," Harry scoffed.

"How can you tell?" Tom asked, genuinely interested.

"When you are around any of the order – let's say Dumbles – when they do magic, can you taste anything?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Nnno, I can't say I do," Tom said, deep in thought.

"Harry, us and the twins may be able to, but not every witch or wizard can," Neville interrupted with a roll of his eyes.

"You are all magic sensitive?" Severus asked them, shock evident in his tone.

"Yes. The Headmaster doesn't know and it is what has saved Harry several times," Luna said dreamily.

"We three and the twins got it from Harry through the bond," Neville clarified.

"It is also why he flirts with some people and not others. As you can tell, those with a darker nature appeal to him," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.

"Of course they do. They are more dangerous … not to mention Hotter," Harry drooled.

"Aldron will be pleased to hear you say so," Luna stated.

_He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"_

_"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up the front to ask the driver and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"_

_"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"_

_"All right – I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you'e got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"_

Draco, Pansy and Blaise tried to smother their laughter.

_Ron_ glared_ at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down._

_He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his trainers underneath them._

_A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."_

_Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor._

_The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the ehads of the students and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"_

_Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads._

"I was so glad to see Hagrid there that I almost went boneless in relief," Harry said with no shame.

_"C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"_

_Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice._

"Why were you sniffling?" Hermione asked.

"I was thinking of what would happen to me when Gran found out I'd lost Trevor," Neville said with a grim smile, causing Hermione to wince.

"Is she still as bad as she was?" Harry asked, seriously.

"No. The Howler and meeting you had with her has made her start thinking before she acts – not to mention that you threatened to remove me fully from the Longbottom family if she didn't pull her act together. I think you may have stopped her heart for a moment after you said that," Neville said with a grin, eyes glimmering with humour at the memory.

_"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."_

_There was a loud 'Oooooh!'_

_The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers._

"And that was the moment I fell in love with her," Harry sighed dreamily, eyes misty.

"That was when I also fell in love with her. Nothing will ever compare with that sight," Tom agreed with his own dreamy smile.

Elise chimed joyfully, making Harry, Hermione and Luna smile.

"She loved you as well, Tom. She seems to see both of us as her children. She wasn't impressed when Dumbles refused to let you teach," Harry explained, watching with a peaceful smile as Tom stroked an awed hand down one of the walls of the room, causing a soft purring to fill the room.

_"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione._

_"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, "Right then – FORWARD!"_

_And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood._

_"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles._

_"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them._

"How'd she get there?" Hermione asked confused.

"Magic I guess," Neville shrugged.

Hermione scowled at the teen who only smiled at her.

_"Trevor!" cried Neville, blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle._

_They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door._

_"Everyone here? You there, still got your toad?"_

_Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door._

"At this point in time I was sure my heart would give out. I couldn't decide if I was terrified or excited," Harry said, shaking his head in exasperation, gaining nods of agreement from everyone in the room.

Harry stretched before reaching for the parchment he had his list on. "Alright. The mistake I made in this chapter of my life was …" He picked up the quill and wrote something down. Tom, who was reading it over his shoulder, felt his jaw drop.

There written on the page before him was "Didn't befriend Draco."

Harry stretched once more before casting a tempus spell. "Hey! Did you know that it is only 9:30. Hey, Elise? Has the prank been done yet?"

Elise chimed, making Harry laugh. "Oh come on! Please show us … hang on! Just let me call for a tea service first. We kinda didn't stop for one when we said we would."

As the words left his mouth, a tea service was placed before him. Once everyone in the room had a cuppa, the lights dimmed and numbers started to count down on the wall they were now all facing.

Peeves floated through the Gryffindor dormitory floor, followed closely by the Bloody Baron. While Peeves went and put the mix that Harry had told him to make in the showerheads, the Baron woke the other two boys and told them what was happening. The two boys smirked at the other and asked what they could do to help. They grinned when the Baron told them to empty their closets as if they were looking for something when Ron was in the shower

When Peeves came back into the room, the Baron left as he chuckled to himself. Before he disappeared, he said that he would deliver the message to Minerva himself. Dean and Seamus quickly hoped into their own beds with just a small gap in the curtains, so they could watch what was happening to Ron, but they could still pretend to be asleep – and therefore unaware of what was happening.

First, Peeves put Ron's hand into a bowl of warm water, resulting in the teen wetting himself. That didn't wake him up, so for the next ten minutes, Peeves flung small globs of flobberworm slime onto him. When that didn't work, he grinned evilly.

Harry laughed hard when he saw what it was that Peeves was going to do next. When the others looked at him questioningly, he just made a motion telling them to watch and then he'd explain. Everyone in the room looked back at the wall, which had been paused the moment the first person had looked away from it.

Peeves mixed a potion that looked to have come from a very icy container with some water with ice in it. He smirked as he poured the liquid onto the sleeping red-head. Ron leapt out of his bed so fast that he bounced off the wall opposite his bed.

The red-head stormed into the bathroom, yelling at Peeves and trying to apologise to two seemingly angry and tired boys. As soon as the bathroom door closed behind Ron, Seamus and Dean proceeded to empty their wardrobes and once that had been done, they decided to clean out Harry's, Ron's and Neville's as well. Twenty five minutes later a fuming green and silver ex red-head stomped into the room, only to freeze at the sight before him. Seamus – who was going through the clothes now on the floor – threw something in Ron's general direction in what seemingly was a fury of despiration.

Ron screamed and ran from the room and out through the portrait. Elise followed his progress from the Gryffindor rooms to the Great Hall, where he burst in wearing nothing but his birthday suit. Many students and several teachers fainted, while nearly the rest of the students laughed at the naked boy. Minerva stood and stormed down to the young male, obviously lecturing him on the dress code of Hogwarts and taking points off him for his state of undress before transfiguring clothes onto the stricken looking young man. As soon as he realised that he had clothing on, Ron screamed once more and fainted dead away.

The occupants of the Room of Requirement laughed till tears rolled down their faces.

"H-Harry? Are you now going to tell us what you found so funny before?" Pansy asked, still chuckling softly every now and then.

Harry smirked. "The potion that Peeves decided to use was one of my own invention and I have been looking for someone to test it on. It only works when it is icy cold and added to iced water and it is supposed to have the combined smell of sick and skunk-spray. The beauty of this potion is that the only person who can smell it is the person who it was used on. By Ron's reaction and by Dean and Seamus' lack of reaction, I'd have to say that it worked exactly as it was supposed to!"

Once more, the room's occupants laughed until tears rolled down their faces.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

By the time the group had calmed down, a tea service had appeared and Neville was busy pouring for everyone.

"We'll stop for a while to have a cuppa and to move around a little before we go onto the next chapter. I do believe that it is Pansy's turn to read, is it not?"

Everyone nodded and murmured as they rose and stretched. They all winced as bones and tendons snapped and cracked.

When they had finished Tom stretched slightly. "Harry? Do you feel like having a bit of a duel? Just as a change of pace?"

Harry nodded in agreement. "I'd love to – but could we do it after lunch instead? That's when I'm going to need to move around a bit."

"Is that alright with everyone?"

When the others grinned and nodded Tom and Harry shook hands.

"This will be interesting," Neville murmured to the two girls. "Do you think he'll be able to keep it clean?"

Lucius and Narcissa sneered. "Our Lord will fight cleanly! How could you think otherwise!"

Harry chuckles. "They weren't talking about him. They were talking about me. The last time I had a duel with someone I won with … 5 minutes?"

Neville snorted. "No, not five minutes. Try two spells!"

Draco and Blaise looked at each other incredulously. "What spells were they?"

"Engorgo and Expelliamus."

The Slytherins all looked confused. Harry smirked. "I hit him in the crutch with an engorgeo and then got his wand away from him with an expelliamus." He shrugged. "As soon as his girlfriend saw what I'd done, she kissed me on the cheek, said thank you and dragged him away to the room they were staying in. I believe you can guess that we didn't see either of them for a week – after the spell had worn off. He's been nice to me ever since then, come to think of it. Hey! Are we going to get on with the next chapter or what?"

Neville and Luna smirked at the other as they made to follow the now Hyperactive Harry to their seats. Before they got there, an intrigued potions master and a smirking Lucius Malfoy stopped them.

"May I ask what it was that you put into his tea that got him to act like this?" Severus purred.

"Of course, Sir," Neville answered politely. "I added the usual nutrient potions and a few drops of Luna's blood into it."

Both men blinked. Had they heard that correctly? He'd added a Vampire's blood and given it to the boy?

Neville sighed slightly. "To someone like us, Vampire blood would be deadly to consume in something like this. But Harry … Harry is special. He's almost bleed to death that many times that both Luna and Aldron have almost had to turn him. Believe me when I say that there is a reason that Harry has never been scared of anything Voldemort could do to him."

"How bad has he been injured in the past, Neville?"

Neville looked the Malfoy patriarch in the eye. "We've had to create a new healing potion for him – one that contains phoenix blood as well as phoenix tears. Fawkes has been an absolute godsend in that. We've also had to create a new blood replenishing potion for him as well. He's had that many of the normal ones that they no longer work on him. He only gets new blood if he uses the one that we made and that is where Luna and Aldron's blood comes into play. The Vampire Virus that lives in their blood attaches to his own blood and enhances it, so that while his body is making new blood for him from the potion, the blood he does have is …"

He thought hard for a moment. "I guess that you could say that the blood he does have is cleansed. What we didn't count on was the fact that he would become addicted to the virus. The virus gives Harry a rush, kinda like if someone who has never had sugar eats nothing but sugar for a day, but when the rush is over, it hits him ten thousand times harder then a sugar high first-timer. When this rush ends, he is going to be in bed for at least a day – unless Luna feeds from him before the rush ends. Then, he'll only be spending a half-day in bed."

"Yeah," Luna smiled. "But it will be at least two weeks before it ends. He'll still get moody when he starts feeding his energy to the babe, but he won't have the really depressing ones. I also wouldn't be surprised if he gets extremely bloodthirsty for a while either. It's just Harry."

Both men nodded and exchanged looks. Did they think that they could handle a bloodthirsty Potter? Well, they had no choice and they followed after the two students in silence.

"There you are! Come on! Pansy is just about to start!"

Lucius almost laughed as the serious young man became a playful child.

"Okay, Sweet," Neville smiled. "We're here now. Do you want to sit with me, 'Mione or Luna?"

Harry smiled. "I wanna sit with my Lunatone!"

Everyone laughed slightly as Harry snuggled into the blonde haired female. "Okay. I'm good, lets go!"

Pansy stifled a giggle and opened the book.

_Chapter 7 – The Sorting Hat_

_The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross._

"And five years later you have been one of the only students to have seen her smile and the only one to see her laugh," Neville stated, amused.

"What can I say? I know when to turn on the charm," Harry smiled modestly.

"More like a miracle worker," Lucius muttered out the side of his mouth to his son.

"I'll say," Draco muttered back the same way.

_"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid._

_"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."_

_She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the Dursley's house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors._

_They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right – the rest of the school must already be here – but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously._

"If we were older, who would bet that a bit of feeling up would have occurred?" Harry chuckled.

"You mean that you didn't try?" Hermione asked innocently.

"No, I didn't, but not for lack of trying," Harry grinned before pouting. "Ronald wouldn't let me get close enough to anyone tasty enough to try it with."

"You can see how close they are as a group, can't you?" Narcissa softly said to Lucius.

"Yes. They do have a strong bond. You can tell that even when they are fighting. I wonder if they can share magic," Lucius said.

"We can ask them about that later," Narcissa smiled.

"Actually, we can answer that now," Luna said, revealing her own magic, followed quickly by the other three of their group that were present. "As you can tell, our auroras are mostly our own, but we have a small amount of each other's aurora in each of ours so that if the need occurs, we can just open up ourselves to get that of whomever we choose. We only use it if we absolutely need it though."

"It has saved each of us many times though, so it is helpful," Neville smiled.

"The twins, Neville, Luna and I use it, but when it comes to Harry, we have to basically force our magic into him. He'd rather die then take magic that we may need to protect ourselves," Hermione continued, rolling her eyes in Harry's direction.

"It seems as if he takes his head of the family responsibilities seriously," Lucius said, impressed.

"He does. Far too seriously!" Luna said with a soft glare.

_"Welcome to Hogwarts,' said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, you house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common-room_

"I think that the students are sorted too soon. Growing up changes people – depending on what happens to them, so they should be sorted each year – or sorted in a different way. We should also be able to sit in our year groups rather then in our house because since we spend all our time with our own houses, we don't get many friends from other houses – and we are being taught discrimination," Luna stated, going back to her dreamy state.

"True. And if you have someone in the house that you are in that is giving someone a hard time, then you have no where to go to get away from them. At least with me I can escape to the Chamber," Harry agreed, running his fingers through Luna's hair.

"I never thought of it that way … hang on! Did you mention the Chamber?" Severus asked.

"Yeah. I've turned it into my own little training area. I either come here or go there. Oh, Tom? Did you end up getting access to Slytherin's books? They're very good!" Harry grinned.

"He had books down there?" Tom asked, shocked.

"I'll take that as a no," Harry laughed.

"Can you show them to me?" Tom asked excitedly.

"You want to take me to a private chamber Tom? How wonderful. What will we be doing?" Harry asked him flirtatiously.

Tom gagged and indicated for Pansy to start reading again, ignoring Harry's laughter.

_"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours._

_"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."_

_Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair._

"Typical Gryffindor – not picking a battle they have a chance to win," Blaise chuckled.

"If you had to fight a loosing battle or face Minnie in a bad mood, which would you do?" Harry asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"I'd pick the battle," Pansy stated, matter-of-factly.

"Me too!" Draco and Severus agreed, both looking slightly more pale than usual.

"See. I was being a Slytherin *winks* Self-preservation Baby!" Harry cheered with a wink towards Blaise, who sighed and shook his head in exasperation.

_"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."_

_She left the chamber. Harry swallowed._

_"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron._

_"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."_

_Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school?_

"All I could think about was the fact that here I was, the 'Saviour of the Wizarding world" and I didn't even know what Wizards ate let alone did with their lives! And they wanted me to take a test in front of Merlin knows how many students and teachers?" Harry said with a sad chuckle.

"I know what you mean. I was thinking the same thing, but I covered it differently then you did," Hermione blushed.

_But he didn't know any magic yet – what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. He looked around anxiously and saw everyone else looked terrified too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learnt and wondering which one she'd need._

Hermione paled drastically and whimpered slightly.

_Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue._

_Everyone except Harry started to laugh._

"I did not turn her wig blue. It was indigo!" Harry said, raising his nose snobbily to increased laughter.

_He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom._

"You really thought that?" Severus asked in astonishment.

"Yep."

"Why?" Lucius asked.

"I was in a new place, I knew that I couldn't be myself and I didn't know who to trust and who not to trust. I know now that I can trust everyone in this room, but back then, I could trust no one but Aldron. Even if I knew what I know now back then, I wouldn't have been able to trust anyone because no one was mature enough for the job – In particular Professor Snape and Draco," Harry responded, making Severus and Draco blush at the truth of his words.

_Then something happened which made him jump about a foot in the air – several people behind him screamed._

_"What the-?"_

_He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance –"_

_"My dear Friar, haven't we give Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?"_

_A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years._

"That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard – and I shared a room with Ron over the holidays!" Harry exclaimed.

"And that was Nick? No wonder Gryffs have a reputation of being all brawn and no brain," Neville said, shaking his head in dismay.

_Nobody answered._

_"New students!" said the Fat Friear, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"_

_A few people nodded mutely._

_"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."_

"That ghost always annoyed me," Severus scowled.

"You and me both Sir," Harry chirruped.

_"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."_

_Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall._

_"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."_

_Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him,_

"Are you sure that you can trust him back there? He might stab you in the back," Hermione spat viciously.

**~Must not react. Must not react. Tom? Can you ask Neville for a calming potion please?~ **Harry hissed.

"Um, Mr Longbottom? I think a calming potion is in order," Tom blinked.

"Luna, give him this one." Neville passed one to her.

"Thanks Nev," Harry sighed in relief.

_And they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall._

_Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like plae lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it n Hogwarts, a History."_

"Oh no, not her again!" Hermione wailed.

_It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens._

_Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house._

"And don't we all envy it, the lucky bastard!" Harry called out like a hyper firve-year-old.

"HARRY! LANGUAGE!" Neville, Luna and Hermione yelped.

"I am the head of this family, and if I want to curse while in the company of family, I will do so," Harry stated firmly.

"I guess that we should welcome you to the family. Harry just adopted you," Neville and Luna chorused, facing different people.

"I am in hell!" Severus groaned, placing his face in his hands.

"NOPE! It's nice, warm and cozy there," Harry said, grinning widely at the look of disbelief on the man's face.

_Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemd the sort of thing – noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing:_

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville all join in with singing the song with Pansy, much to the amusement of the rest of the room.

_'Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!'_

_The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again._

_"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."_

"Even if he is a Weasley and a bastard, he was still good for a funny reaction!" Pansy gasped through her laughter.

_Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him._

"You had no self-confidence what-so-ever, did you?" Pansy asked, shaking her head in bemusement at this new side of Harry Potter.

"I didn't before I met Aldron and this was the first time that I didn't have him with me in a new experience – but it's easy enough to fake it," Harry responded with a sly half-smirk, causing Hermione, Blaise, Draco, Pansy and Neville to start splutteringing and Narcissa and Luna to laugh.

_Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment._

_"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said, "Abbott, Hannah!"_

"Blonde, Hufflepuff. Strong Protego, needs to work on incendio and reparo," Neville announced.

_A pink faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause –_

_"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat._

_The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her._

_"Bones, Susan!'_

"Hufflepuff, works well with Hannah. Poor Protego, strong impedimenta jinx and very good at lower level cutting curses," Hermione stated.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah._

_"Boot, Terry!"_

"Pompous arsehole. Needs to work on protego and stupefy, strong in jelly legs, but needs to find someone other then Neville to practice on!" Luna hissed in displeasure.

"You got him good the last time he hit Neville with a curse just because he needed to practice on someone," Harry laughed.

"Yeah. Thanks for that Luna. Some things should never be done – particularly when it is an exploding charm and you are carrying a jar of Erumpent Horn to the Potion Professor's laboratory!" Neville said, bright red with rage.

Everyone in the room who hadn't been aware of what had occurred winced at the thought.

_"RAVENCLAW!"_

_The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them._

_"Brocklehurst, Mandy"_

"An absolute wiz with transfiguration – lacking in defence and commonsense," Harry said absentmindedly.

_Went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender"_

"Ditzy brunette. Good for nothing but Battle bait," Neville sneered. Severus and Lucius looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

_Became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers;_

"You know, I've always wondered why the tables are set up the way they are – I mean, I understand why Slytherin and Gryffindor are at opposite ends of the Hall, but I would have thought that the Raven's would have been more comfortable with the Slytherins then the Puffs. They seem to be less intimidated by us snakes anyway," Draco admitted.

"It is because that was the way the Founders sat at the head table. Hufflepuff and Slytherin were good friends and were till the end and Rowena was the only one that could handle Godric for any long period of time and only because he was her older half-brother," Harry answered.

"How do you know that?" Tom asked.

"Aldron. Remember I said that he was turned around the time of the Founders," Harry answered with a grin.

"Oh."

Hermione, Narcissa, Luna and Pansy giggled at the look of embarrassment on the Dark Lord's face.

_Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling._

_"Bulstrode, Millicent"_

"Slytherin, built along the lines of a buffalo, pure-blood status questionable – prefers physical retaliation rather than magical," Hermione stated with a slight wince making Draco, Blaise and Pansy's eyes widen at the memory of when Hermione had found that out.

_Then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but her thought they looked an unpleasant lot._

"And not just in the eye-candy department either," Harry said teasingly, only to have Hermione, Luna and Neville all try to flick his ears.

_He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during sports lessons at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him._

_"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"_

"In the same category as Lavender – but keep him away from Harry or we will have a homicide on our hands," Luna stated firmly.

"Aww, but I wanna see what Aldron can do to idiots in high positions!" Harry pouted.

"I already said NO Harry. Now behave or I'll tell Aldron that you don't deserve to be punished," Luna snapped, her hands rubbing her face tiredly as though they'd had this discussion many, many times before.

"You wouldn't?" Harry whispered, a horrified look on his face.

"Just try me!" she said, narrowing her eyes.

"How does that work, exactly?" Draco asked nervously.

"Oh, he IS innocent!" Harry exclaimed, eyes gleaming as he looked at Draco, causing the blonde to gulp nervously and blush slightly. Lucius and Severus smirked at each other over the teen's reaction.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!"_

_Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus,"_

"Gryffindor's man slut. Wonderful with protection spells – horrible with charms and transfiguration, particularly with turning juice into rum," Harry said, eyes still locked on Draco's.

_The sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor._

_"Granger, Hermione!"_

"Our family intellect. What would we have done without you?" Neville said with a soft smile at the girl in question.

"We wouldn't have a life, have failed school, died multiple times and been in St Mungo's funny farm putting marmalade in our tea and buttering out papers," Harry said with a teasing grin.

Hermione blushed and started to cry, snuggling into Harry who hugged and rocked her until she calmed down.

_Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head._

_"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned._

_A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?_

Everyone looked at Harry with eyebrows raised so high that they disappeared into their hairlines.

"Yes yes, we all know I'm stupid. There is no reason for you to be surprised … And no pointing it out to me every time that I am found to be acting the Dork, Ok?" Harry whined, making everyone shake their heads in amusement.

_When Neville Longbottom,_

"And here is our family Healer," Hermione said warmly.

"And Potions maker," Harry interrupted. Neville smirked at the two of them.

"What is wrong with that picture?" Blaise muttered to himself, watching the three Gryffindor's in confusion.

_The boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR", Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."_

"Owes me a life debt. I couldn't leave her to Harry in a bad mood, could I?" Luna said, trying to not let Harry hear her.

"Yes you could have. I would have only taken about half of her blood. She would have had enough to live with … with some blood replenishers afterwards," Harry responded frostily, glaring at the book.

_Malfoy_

"Blonde, Grey eyed male," Neville started.

"Arrogant, Prissy," Luna continued.

"Annoying, Slytherin," Hermione entered with fake snark in her voice.

"And FUCKING well HOT!" Harry finished, smirking at the deer-in-headlights look on Draco's face.

_Swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once; the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed "SLYTHERIN!"_

_Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe_

"A boy with Gorilla-like manners and behavioural patterns," Neville interrupted once more much to Pansy's amusement.

_And Goyle,_

"Similar to Crabbe, but more along the lines of a grizzly bear," Hermione wrinkled her nose.

"Do you have information on every student in your year?" Severus asked, half exasperatedly.

"No," Harry bit.

"We have information on all the students that have been at this school since Harry started, including the 7th year students that were here when Harry was a 1st year," Luna clarified with a swift sharp look in Harry's direction.

"The ghosts, magical creatures – including centaurs and house-elves," Neville continued, know writing on a piece of parchment that he had to have pulled out of thin air.

"And the teachers that have worked her for the last 10 years," Harry and Hermione chorused.

"Can I have a look?" Tom asked.

"What's in it for me?" Harry smirked.

Tom and Severus both felt their jaws drop, not expecting those words to come from the mouth of one Harry James Potter.

_Looking pleased with himself._

_There weren't many people left now._

_"Moon"_

"4 months along – or she would be if she hadn't tried to kill herself. Anthony wasn't impressed with her for that," Luna stated.

"Goldstein? It was his?" Severus asked with a frown. He made the potions that had saved the stupid female and made her abort the child. If she had told either him or Poppy that she was pregnant than she wouldn't have lost the baby in such a painful way.

"No. She was his girlfriend. She was cheating on him with Dean," Neville clarified.

"Guess she didn't want him to know that her kid had burnt in the oven," Harry said tactlessly.

"That. Was. Uncalled. For!" Hermione yelled, hitting Harry after every word.

"So was her attempt at getting me in her bed in front of the whole school, then accusing me of raping her after I had told her in no uncertain terms that I was happy with another man at this point in time." Harry replied bitingly cold.

"… True," Hermione agreed in a small voice.

_"Nott"_

"Slytherin intellect. Voted most popular person to be a virgin at graduation – well, he is now that I'm pregnant," Hermione said sadly.

_"Parkinson"_

"Pretty patience of a Saint," Harry said.

"Think she'll agree to go with the terrible two?" Luna asked.

"She'll definitely need to have the patience of a saint with those two!" Neville groaned. "I don't know how Harry manages to keep the two of them under the amount of control he does without suffering any form of mental torture from them."

"What are you talking about?" Pansy asked, slightly terrified.

"Fancy being courted by two pure-blooded millionare pranksters?" Harry asked with a smirk. Pansy just blinked, thinking that the only two these four would be talking about would be the Weasley twins.

_, Then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"_

"Horrible company, particularly when in the same room as Lavender," Harry shuddered, remembering times in the past when he had been cornered by the three of them at once.

_…, then "Perks, Sally-Anne"_

"Lovely girl. Good with Healing spells," Neville said, once more absent-mindedly with his focus on the papers before him.

_… And then, at last –_

_"Potter, Harry!"_

"Parry Hotter? Who's that idiot?" Harry asked, confusion written all over his face.

Severus rolled his eyes at the melodramatic pose the boy had taken when his name was said.

"Head of the Potter, Black and Evans families, as well as the representative of the Longbottom and Lovegood families. You are the advisor to the chief's of the Centaurs, goblins, merpeople, Were's and you are the wanted heir of the head of the Forbidden Forest Vampire clan," Hermione and Neville chorused.

"Not to mention you have the adoration of all house-elves," Luna added as a second thought.

"I think I'm going to pass out," Lucius said, looking at his wife dazedly.

"I'm just glad that he doesn't want to fight us," Narcissa responded.

"So am I!" Tom and Severus chorused.

"He's scary!" Tom whimpered. Everyone looked at Tom as if they had never seen him before. "What? He is!"

_As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall._

_"Potter, did she say?"_

_"The Harry Potter?"_

"No, not The Harry Potter. It's just HARRY. An eleven year old muggle-raised boy who wanted a place that he could damn well fit into for once in his gods-trice-damned life!" Harry glowered. Hermione started to pat Harry on the head like he was a puppy in a half-hearted attempt at calming him down a little bit. Harry glards at her then sighed. "I'm sorry 'Mione. Don't stop?"

_The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looing at the black inside of the hat. He waited._

_"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting … So where shall I put you?"_

"The hat talks?" Blaise asked as everyone else in the room blinked blankly.

"After all that, that is what you focus on?" Harry laughed.

"Do those words mean what I think they mean?" Draco asked slowly.

"Depends on what it is you're thinking, doesn't it?" Harry smirked.

"I'm thinking Gryffindor wasn't the Hat's first choice," Draco responded seriously. His only answer was four smirks.

_Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."_

Severus paled and Tom smirked at him, both thinking the same things.

_"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that – no? Well, if you're sure – better be GRYFFINDOR!"_

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville smirked at the shocked faces on everyone else in the room with them.

"You're a snake!" Tom exclaimed five minutes later.

"You thought anything less?" Harry asked coyly.

"But … But what about all the Gryffindor tendencies?" Severus asked, sounding very close to tears.

"If you ever see him in animal form, they you'll have no doubts what so ever that he is 100% Slytherin," Neville stated with a roll of his eyes.

"How will that help?" Blaise snarled playfully.

"For me to know and you to find out … eventually … maybe," Harry said, waving a hand around as though it was nothing important.

_Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily towards the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water._

_He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him a thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore._

"No need to sound so happy about it," Harry and Hermione hissed.

_Harry recognised him at once from the card he'd got out of the Chocolate Frong on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Harry spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban._

"I hated that turban! It smelled of garlic!" Tom wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought of it.

"Tell us about it! It made us sick every time we walked into the room!" Hermione and Neville raved, ignoring the laughter coming from Harry and Luna.

_And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Turpin, Lisa,"_

"Bitchy. Gives Ravenclaw a bad name," Luna said.

"And you don't?" Draco asked without thinking.

"Behave yourself, Draconius," Lucius snapped as he tweaked his son's ear painfully.

"It is alright, Mr Malfoy. I'm used to it, and I know he will regret it soon," Luna said, eyes glazed over slightly.

"Luna is a true Seer. She sees what others don't. That's why she always has the dreamy look on her face," Harry said with a soft smile on his face as he looked at her.

"We adore our Seer. She's a doll," Hermione almost squealed.

"I told you that Draco would regret it later," Luna stated, laughing and blushing slightly.

Draco looked away from the group in shame.

_Became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn._

"A bastard if I ever saw one!" Hermione spat viciously.

"Only to friends, family and Slytherins," Harry said.

"Did that even make sense?" Blaise asked as he wrinkled his face in confusion.

"Yes!"

_He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"_

_Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him._

"_Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise,"_

"Malfoy's best male friend. Straight as they come – pretending to date Parkinson so they both get left alone," Neville said, breaking Harry and Hermione out of their fuming over their ex-friend.

"Is that so?" Narcissa asked in amusement.

"Please don't tell mum!" Blaise cringed. "She wants me to marry my older cousin in Italy. I don't want to marry anyone but my mate, and definitely not a 38 year old cow who believes that money is thrown at her because it is her right and that you don't need to work to get it."

"Can you say BUSTED!" Draco chuckled, privately feeling sorry for his best friend and thankful that his parents understood his needs as a creature.

_Was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away._

_Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realised how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago._

_Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there._

"Now, remember children, all the dark side need are really big hugs!" Harry said in an almost perfect imitation of the Headmaster.

"You are to stay away from that website, Mister," Hermione scolded playfully.

"Awww, But Mione! It's fun!" Harry mock pouted.

_"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit!_

"STUPID!" Neville growled.

_Blubber!_

"FAT!" Luna spat.

_Oddment!_

"OLD!" Harry hissed.

_Tweak!_

"COOT!" Hermione glowered.

Tom, Severus and Lucius exchanged worried looks. If they didn't hate the Headmaster to the extent that they did, then they'd be worried for him.

_"Thank you."_

_He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered._

"That's not true! The Slytherins didn't!" everyone in the room chorused.

_Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not._

_"Is he – a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly._

_"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"_

_Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs._

Harry and Hermione ran out the door, both of them a brilliant green colour.

"If he would let me, I would kill the bastards! Come on Luna. You go deal with Hermione, I'll deal with Harry," Neville muttered, shaking his head sadly. Luna followed Neville with a sad smile, nodding her agreement.

"That was disturbing," Draco said worriedly, looking after the four other teens.

"That it was," Lucius and Narcissa chorused, exchanging looks.

Harry and Hermione walked back into the room looking less green with Neville and Luna following them, having a whispered heated discussion.

"Sorry," Harry and Hermione both whisper, looking away from everyone as though they had been caught doing something shameful. Luna smacked them both softly across the back of the head, still whispering heatedly to Neville. Both teens flushed red and sat, snuggled up together.

_The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he like. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if it made him sick._

"Can Nagini eat him too?" Tom asked hopefully.

"No," Harry deadpanned.

"Why not?" Tom whined, gaining odd looks from Severus and Lucius.

"Why should she have all the fun?" Harry stated simply.

Tom blinked in response while Hermione, Luna and Neville just shook their heads in resignation. They were used to this attitude from Harry.

_Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the humbugs and began to eat. It was delicious._

"And so also began the vanishing charm," Neville grumbled.

_"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak._

"Yummy – I feel like steak now. Is that okay with everyone for dinner?" Harry asked hyperactively.

"Shhh!" Hermione hushed, making Harry pout at her.

"PW'ed Harry?" Draco smirked.

"Only by you Sweetheart!" Harry said with a flutter of his eyelashes and a coy smile.

Draco blushed and gaped at him while Neville shook with surppressed laughter. Severus and Lucius raise an eyebrow each at the same time and Tom chuckled at the younger blonde's reaction. Harry was right, he was an innocent.

Aww, how sweet! Draco has a new best friend!" Pansy half squealed.

"Don't push it Pansy – we haven't gotten to the picking of each others noses yet," Harry said seriously.

Hermione and Tom burst into laughter at how quickly the pure-bloods of the group turned green. Even Blaise had turned green, which Hermione had previously thought impossible.

"What in the world?" Narcissa gulped.

"At the orphanage, if you picked someone's nose for them then you were that person's best friend," Tom explained, still chuckling slightly.

"It was the same at my Primary School. It was one of the reasons I didn't have any friends. I refuse to put my fingers in my own nose, let alone someone elses!" Hermione informed them.

"Eww!" Draco shuddered.

"We second that opinion!" Blaise and Pansy yelped.

"Ok, no nose picking … how about spit swapping?," Harry asked innocently.

"Spit swapping?" Draco asked confusedly.

"Mmm," Harry pulled Draco into an intense French kiss. "Yes, spit swapping," he panted after releasing him. "DAMN! Why do you snakes taste so good? The Professor tastes of rich dark chocolate with hints of coffed liquor and chilli and Draco tastes of dark chocolate with hints of cinnamon, cloves and tree-ripened oranges."

"Interesting. It seems that dark magic tastes of dark chocolate, and the dark magic tastes richer by concentration," Neville said in a scientific tone of voice to Hermione.

"Yeah. It might be that someone with a small amount of dark magic will taste richly of it if they are surrounded by a lot of dark magic," Hermione agreed, looking away from Harry for a moment before looking up at a hum of pleasure. "HARRY! LET GO OF HIM THIS INSTANT!"

"But he tastes so good!" Harry whined when he unlatched his lips from Draco's.

"Father? Please get him away from me – I'm enjoying this way too much!" Draco panted, looking almost cross-eyed. Lucius laughed at his son's almost frightened tone.

_"Can't you -?"_

_"I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."_

_"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you – you're Nearly Headless Nick!"_

_"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy –" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted._

_"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"_

_Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted._

_"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell on to his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking please at the stunned looks on their faces,_

"Of course he was please! Have you ever been witness to one of his prank parties?" Hermione asked the book in exasperation. Harry just motioned for everyone to ignore her for the time being.

_Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back on to his neck, coughed and said, "So – new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherinhave got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable – he's the Slytherin ghost."_

"No! Really? With a name like Bloody Baron, I thought he'd be the Hufflepuff ghost along with the Friar. I was ever soooo surprised to learn he was the ghost for Slytherin!" Harry said in a sarcastically mocking tone of voice.

"Sarcasm becomes you, Harry," Pansy smirked.

"Why thank you, milady," he grinned, bowing lowly towards her from his seat without disturbing Hermione, who was stretched out alone his lap.

Pansy blinked in shock before deciding that her best bet would be to ignore his strange behaviour, just like Neville and Luna were.

_Harry lookes over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face and rabes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements._

"I wasn't. If I wasn't a Slytherin, I would have run to my room, locked the door and hidden under my bed!" Draco stated, voice trembling softly.

"So you did the Gryffindor thing and stayed there?" Neville sniggered, causing Draco to flush slightly.

"Draco, Darling. IF you weren't in Slytherin, then you wouldn't have been sitting next to him in the first place," Harry said in his best stereo-typical gay-man voice.

"True," Draco responded, looking as though he'd give anything to be further away from Harry than what he was.

_"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest._

_"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately._

"I don't think there is anyone who has asked him," Blaise stated after a moment of deep thought.

"I have," Harry and Tom chorused, grinning at each other.

"Why am I not surprised?" Pansy asked rhetorically, rolling her eyes.

Harry and Tom gave the group cheeky, and almost identical, grins.

_When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates leaving them sparkling clean as before._

_A moment later the puddings appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, ric pudding …_

_As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families._

_"I'm half and half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."_

_The other's laughed._

_"What about you, Neville?" said Ron._

_"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "But the family thought I was all muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me – he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once. I nearly drowned – but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for tea and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced – all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here – they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."_

"The only Longbottom to ever have a brain in their head was your father, Neville. Your mother had a wonderful mind to. I'm glad to see that you take after them rather then that brother of your Grandmothers," Lucius said with a sneer.

"Thank you, Mr Malfoy," Neville nodded seriously.

"Damn, Nev! Your family's just as bad as mine! Think I can have them as my first meal?" Harry hissed, pupils slitting and flashing.

"Don't you want to have your family as your first meal?" Neville asked, curiously.

"No. Wizards taste better then Muggles," Harry explained.

"I thought you liked the taste of dark wizards better then light wizards," Blaise interrupted with a slight amount of confusion.

"I do – but fear makes them taste oh-so-sweet," Harry said, licking his lips from the taste he could almost sense in his mouth.

"Okay. This is freaking me out now. You are not even a vampire yet and you are talking about eating someone? Am I the only one who has a problem with that?" Narcissa asked worried for the teen.

"Yes," Hermione, Luna, Neville and Harry deadpanned.

"No!" Tom, Severus, Lucius, Pansy, Blaise and Draco shouted.

_On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons ("I do hope they start straight away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult –"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing-")._

"OH NO! I was getting along with Percy!" Hermione wailed, blocking her ears from Harry's sniggering.

_Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet, Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin._

"HEY! I THINK I KNOW THAT GUY!" Blaise shouted in shock.

"No shit Sherlock!" Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville smirked in amusement, laughing slightly at the flush on Severus' cheeks.

"You should let 'Cissa give you that make over she's been wanting to give you for the past 20 odd years," Lucius chuckled at his friend's expense.

"Over my dead body," Severus hissed.

"But Sir, if you're intoxicating now, how much more intoxicating would you be with a makeover?" Harry said, honestly interested. Everyone in the room turned to look at the teen. "What? It's a fair question!"

_It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes – and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead._

"That wasn't me … was it?" Severus frowned.

"No. It was just Uncle Tommy," Harry shrugged, ignoring the whimper that came from said man.

_"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head._

_"What is it?" asked Percy._

_"N-nothing."_

_The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had got from the teacher's look – a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all._

_"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy._

_"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to – everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."_

I get the feeling that he doesn't like you, Sir," Luna stated in her dreamy voice.

"Big surprise there!" everyone who knew the third oldest Weasley sneered.

_Harry watched Snape for a while but Snape didn't look at him again._

_At last, the puddings too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent._

_"Ahem – just a few more words now we are all fed and watered._

"What are we? Sheep?" Harry snorted in annoyance.

_I have a few start of term notices to give you._

_"First years shouls note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils._

"If the forest is forbidden to all, then why doesn't he have a ward around it to keep students out of it unless an adult … or more specifically … a teacher, takes them. I know that those type of wards exist," Hermione snapped.

"Good question. I would like to know that myself!" Narcissa said, calming the girl slightly.

_And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."_

_Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley Twins._

"Why am I not surprised?" Severus muttered.

_"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors._

"Unless you are Slytherin or saving his cat," Luna said with a sly glance at Harry.

"Would you believe that cat is more annoying if she likes you then when she doesn't like you?" Harry groaned.

"I don't think she likes anyone!" Blaise said, shaking his head.

"She doesn't. She only likes Filch and Harry," Hermione said scowling at her hands.

"And Harry isn't a person?" Pansy asked with a smirk.

"No, he's a beast!" Hermione snapped.

"She's only annoyed at me because I introduced Mrs Norris to Crookshanks. Seems she, like most humans, needs a bit of action or she gets bitchy. It had the added bonus of getting rid of Crookshanks from the common room while trying to get homework done," Harry smirked, making everyone shudder in disgust.

_"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch._

_"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."_

"Which is why I went there in the first place," Harry murmured to himself.

Luna, Neville and Hermione smacked him on the shoulder, making him hiss and glare at them.

"Don't say that!" Hermione sobbed, struggling not to burst into tears again.

"If you get like that again, I will stop you like I did last time, only to cut you myself!" Neville growled, his magic releasing itself from his grasp.

"And then I will give you to my Sire whether you want to be turned or not! And I guarentee that if he hears that you have tried to kill yourself he will strap you to his bed and not let you leave til he has rammed it into your brain that you are his and as his, you are not allowed to damage yourself!"

"He's done it before?" Tom growled slightly, watching the teen with narrowed eyes.

"Once," Hermione gasped.

"Or twice," Luna snarled.

"A year," Neville growled again.

"That we know of," Neville and Luna hissed, still glaring at Harry.

"When did it first start and why didn't I notice?" Severus whispered in shock.

"Before first year, glamours and to you I was a Gryffindor who reminded you of one of you school bullies and therefore was below your level of recognition," Harry shrugged as though he had expected no less.

"Um … Did Harry just use big words?" Draco asked, trying to get everyone's attention away from the fact that his godfather was looking very close to crying.

"If I ever find out that you attempt that again, then a vampire will be the last of your worries! First I will set Minerva onto you, then I will set Narcissa onto you!" Severus rasped out finally.

"And that will stop me how, exactly?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. Everyone looked at him in shock.

_Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did._

_"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy._

_"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere – the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."_

"The old coot never tells anyone anything if he doesn't have to. Stupid Weatherby!" Neville snorted, calming down slightly from his rage at Harry.

_"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed._

"HARRY JAMES POTTER DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Hermione screeched.

"But …" Harry started.

"NO!" Luna, Hermione and Neville yelled.

"Fine! I'll keep it clean," Harry pouted.

"Good!" Hermione said fiercely.

"I hate you!" Harry scowled.

Draco, Pansy and Blaise pulled Harry up and over to where they were seated.

"Can you do something with my hair, Harry? If I like some of them, I'll get you to teach me how to do them," Pansy asked.

"And if you just happen to murmur your version of the school song while you do it," Blaise smirked, trailing off.

"I like the way you think!" Harry smirked, his eyes lighting up brightly.

"I think it would have been safer to let him sing it," Neville said, fear evident in his eyes as he looked between Harry and the three junior Slytherins.

"Too late now!" Harry almost crowed before smirking at Pansy. "Come on Cutie, lets make some male heads explode!"

Pansy blinked and giggled slightly while Blaise, Draco and Severus looked at the boy with awe.

_Dumbledore have his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words._

_"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"_

_And the school bellowed:_

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts. Hoggy Soggy Hogwarts. Teach us something sleazy. Even though we're old and bald with tits between our kneesies. Our heads could do with sucking before we get to fucking. For now we're bare, surrounded by air and looking for something to stuff, so teach us things worth knowing, like which part goes with what, Just do your best, you'll soon grow breasts and then the fun really begins," Harry crooned into Pansy's ear, making her giggle.

"You would have done very well in Slytherin! We are rather …," Lucius smirked.

"Promiscuous? Kinky? Talented at making the beast with two backs?" Harry interrupted, smirking much like the older Malfoy.

"All the above," Draco added, cockily.

"You volunteering to 'show me the ropes'?" Harry asked, smirking at the younger blonde.

"Only if I top," Draco countered, not missing a beat.

"I'm too tired to do all the work, so fine with me," Harry shrugged.

"OH NO YOU ARE NOT MISTER!" Hermione bellowed, grabbing Harry's arm in a circulation stopping grip.

"Remember, no killing Hermione," Harry muttered to himself over and over with his eyes closed, ignoring the way Hermione had flung herself at him in tears. "Why me?" Harry asked, sighing in resignation as he wrapped his arms around the girl.

"I wish I knew," Neville sighed, watching with sad eyes.

"Don't we all?" Lucius murmured, watching the dark-haired teen who had shouldered a responsibility that wasn't his to carry.

Pansy shook her head sadly and continued, slightly subdued.

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald,_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

_Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest._

_"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here!"_

"I agree – but only if it is music!" Harry hissed, obviously still pissed at the girl he was holding gently in his arms.

"Very true!" Tom, Severus and Lucius agreed.

_And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"_

"NOW HE'S TREATING US LIKE HORSES!" Harry yelled.

"Calm down before I turn YOU into a horse!" Neville sighed.

"Why me? Can't we turn Dumbarse into one … and change his sherbet lemons into cherry drops," Harry asked, almost pleadingly.

Luna rubbed her temples, trying to keep her temper. "I keep telling you that he'd kill you if you did that."

_The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much further they had to go when they came to a sudden halt._

"Peeves!" Harry, Neville and Hermione called in various degrees of happiness.

"You called Peevsie?" Peeves asked, popping into the room with a grin.

"We're about to read when we first met you! Wanna listen?" Harry grinned at the poltergeist.

Peeves cackled and crossed his legs, floating in mid-air.

_A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them and as Percy took a step towards them they started throwing themselves at him._

"Should have made sure you hit him," Harry told him with a grin.

"More fun to see them panic when they think you will hit them," Peeves said with a mad cackle.

"You are a sadist, Peeves. No wonder I love your company," Harry said with a slightly disturbing look in his eye.

_"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A Poltergeist." He raised his vice, "Peeves – show yourself."_

_A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered._

_"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"_

_There was a pop and a little man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks._

_"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"_

_He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked._

_"Go away Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy._

_Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head._

"Yeah, thanks for that," Neville said dryly.

"You were such a cute Ickle Firstie! I couldn't help myself," Peeves said, pinching Neville's cheeks then disappearing with a grin when Neville growled at him. Harry just chuckled and ignored the glare that Neville sent in his direction.

_They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armour as he passed._

_"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."_

_At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress._

_"Password?" she said._

_"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it – Neville needed a leg up –_

"I'm still sorry about that Neville," Harry said, shamefaced.

"It wasn't your fault Harry," Neville sighed. He'd never manage to be able to stay angry at Harry, even when he did deserve it, let alone when he didn't.

"What wasn't?" Severus asked.

"Harry was pushed into me when we got there and we both went down. He landed on top of me and I landed with my ankle underneath me, so I had managed to pull the muscles in that ankle," Neville said with a pointed look at Harry, who blushed.

_And found themselves in the Gryffindor common-room, a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs._

"I prefer the Slytherin Commonrooms," Tom, Narcissa, Lucius, Severus, Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Harry chorused.

_Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase – they were obviously in one of the towers – they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pyjamas and fell into bed._

_"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."_

_Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once._

_Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully – and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it – then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold – there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking._

The Adults in the room looked away from Harry in shame while the students gaped at him in disbelief. Harry just shrugged, his face void of all emotion.

_He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all._

"I wonder why I didn't remember it," Harry thought out loud.

"Could that have been when the spells that were on you were strengthened?" Hermione asked, also thinking out loud.

"Maybe – but how would that have happened? Unless …" Harry started before understanding filled his eyes.

"The Tart!" Harry, Hermione and Neville chorused.

"No one but you ate the tart! I don't even remember seeing treacle tart and I was seating across from you, and since it is my favourite dessert, I would have had some," Neville continued.

"But spells can't be strengthened through food," Blaise pointed out.

"They can be if the spell is linked to a potion. The potion can be added to a food item to strengthen or re-apply it," Tom and Severus chorused.

Blaise, Draco and Pansy paled slightly at that information. No one would be safe if that were the case.

Harry reached for the quill that Neville was still holding and reached for his list of "Things that went wrong' and he wrote something with Tom reading over his shoulder.

"I should think so!" he announced loftily. "Not going into Slytherin was the worst mistake that you could have done!"

"Says you!" Harry retorted without heat. "I'm going to go get lunch set up. It should be ready in about ten minutes or so, so feel free to come when you want to. While we eat I'll get Elise to set up a room for us to duel in, Tom. I could do with a bit of movement." He stretched and walked into the kitchen, unaware of the silver eyes that followed his every move.

Pansy and Blaise smirked at each other.

"So, Drake," Blaise began.

"What happened between you and Harry before – and don't tell us that you 'just talked' because the look on your face said otherwise."

Draco looked at the two of them, eyes slightly crossed in memory. "All I will say is … Damn he's got a wicked tongue."

The people in the room either laughed or went slightly green at the Malfoy heir's words and followed Harry into the kitchen.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Once again, the table was filled with fresh bread, salads and the rest of the quiche from the day before and it wasn't only Neville, Luna and Hermione that focused on how much Harry was eating throughout the meal. To everyone's surprise, Harry managed to eat a full sized salad, a slice of bread and half a piece of quiche before pushing his plate away. Neville quickly gave him a stomach settling potion so that it wouldn't come back up at any time. While the others finished their lunch, Harry was walking around getting the food for that night ready and sipping at a glass of iced water.

They walked out of the kitchen filled with excitement, but stopped in surprise at the look of the room they had entered. In the very centre there was a slightly raised platform with two large disks on either end. Neville stood between them on the platform.

"Ok, in this duel the two contestants are to stand on the two disks. They are not to leave them, but they can move the disks with them if they wish. The winner is the contestant who draws first blood – No curses or hexes which do lasting damage and – pay attention to this Harry! – NO UNFORGIVABLES!" He gave Harry a fierce glare to the surprise of every Slytherin there.

"It was only the one time," Harry muttered to himself, "and it was only Weasel."

"I don't care if it was only one time and that it was against Ronald – NO UNFORGIVABLES!"

Harry nodded, dejectedly.

"Ok contestants! Take your places!"

Harry and Tom walked to a disk each and stood on it – causing them both to light up.

"On the count of three. One ... Two ... Three!"

When Neville yelled out three, he ran and jumped to the same side as the others just as a safety barrier surrounded them. Tom had already sent off his first hex – the cutting curse, which Harry dodged by moving the disk out of the way. He replied by sending a tickling charm – which, unfortunately for Tom, hit.

What followed was the most intense duel anyone in the sidelines had ever seen. Within five minutes Tom's robe and shirt had been torn, burnt, wet then frozen, he had slight burns to his chest and back, spiked vines wrapped around his legs and his left arm and wrist had been hit by an arthritis curse.

Similarly, Harry's robes were still smoking and burnt, his hair vanished and replaced by carnivorous plants that were continually bitting his ears, his right ankle bone shattered and his left shoulder turning a glorious blue-black – the result of large blunt force trauma in the form of a large table.

Elise chimed and the three panicked. "Harry! The old goat's outside! You have to finish it!"

Harry – who had heard both Elise and the other three, sent a stunning charm at Tom, only to have him go flying to the other side of the room to hit the wall with a sickening crunch. As Tom slide down the wall, he left behind a line of blood, causing Harry to panic. "Neville! Check him! I'll deal with the old coot!"

Before anyone could react Harry had left the room and appeared next to the entry way. "If you are here to try get me out of here now, you can forget about it! I will be on the train to the Dursleys, but until then, I'm staying in here!"

"Actually, I wanted to know if Professor Snape is available. I wanted to know if Voldemort is up to anything, my dear boy."

"Voldemort hasn't called him at all, so nothing special there, Now leave ... me ... alone!"

Elise reacted to Harry's distress and popped the Headmaster back to his office before putting a ward around the doorway. Harry slowly sank to the floor as his anger dispersed, leaving him with the pain of his wounds to take over his mind. Just before he hit the floor, two strong arms grabbed him and picked him up bridal style. Harry glared into the face of Severus Snape as he carried him back to the duelling room turned infirmary.

"I can walk you know?" he snapped.

Severus ignored the tone, knowing that it would have been a combination of his worry for Tom, the pain he was in and the headmaster's visit. "Yes you could have walked and I'm sure that you would have, but I am under healer's orders to get you to him or I would be on the receiving end of an experimental potion he has and I quite like the way I am now, so you may as well just take it without arguing."

Harry deflated and relaxed into the arms supporting him, hissing in pain occasionally. "I guess you're right," he murmured before going into a slight doze.

Severus gave a half-smirk and placed the boy onto a bed close to his Lord – who only had a slight concussion and was slowly sipping at a potion to get rid of it. Everyone was surprised to find out that Harry hadn't used his full magic potential and they were wondering what would have happened if he had been.

Once he had moved from the bed, Neville attacked the dark-haired boy with healing spells and potions. After half an hour, he sat and gulped a glass of water. "They'll both be alright to move in about fifteen minutes," he said tiredly. "Harry will wake in ten minutes, so that will give him five minutes to wake up fully and to stretch. He'll have one hell of a night with the skele-gro I had to give him. Not to mention he'll be pissed that I want them both to stay in place for a few hours."

Neville turned to Tom. "You got him a few good times. You made dust out of the bone in his ankle and his shoulder was actually missing a large chunk of bone, as well as having all the muscles and ligaments being torn from it. It was very close, but Harry is undoubtedly the winner because he drew first blood – even though all he was doing was stunning you so that after he had dealt with Dumbles the two of you could continue.

Tom nodded. "I had gathered that. I don't think I have ever had a duel as intense as that one since I was learning to duel. He is good. Very good."

Luna sat down next to Harry and started to pat his hair softly. "I think that he was enjoying that duel. Normally he finishes it with one spell, but he didn't use any of the darker spells he normally uses. Now hush, I think he is waking up."

Harry lay there with his eyes closed for a while, assessing his injuries and how he was feeling. "I'm guessing skele-gro, bruise balm, two healing potions, a nutrient potion and a headache potion. Am I correct?"

Neville snorted. "Of course you are correct, and I would thank you for trusting me to do my job without scanning what was done to you."

Hermione chuckled weakly. "You know he can't help himself, Nev. He always does it because of what has happened to him in the past."

Harry opened his eyes and turned his head to the left. "So how's it feel to have me as your right hand man?" he teasingly asked Tom.

Tom laughed softly. "I think I'd like it more if we didn't duel for it to have happened. You really like fire don't you?"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, I do. How'd you guess?"

Before Tom could answer, Pansy appeared with the book. "Well, since neither of you can move from your beds for the next few hours, I vote that we continue the next chapter here – you know, we could kind of have a sleep over. And don't worry, I told the house elves to cook for us tonight but you can start cooking for us again tomorrow."

Harry smiled at the outgoing Slytherin female. "Thanks Pansy. I don't think I could have cooked tonight anyway. That was a very good hit on the ankle."

Pansy smiled and put the book on the bed beside Harry before helping Luna getting him to sit up. "I do believe that it is your turn to read, Harry."

Harry smiled and sat still while Neville wrapped his injured arm in a sling to help prevent movement.

"Okay, is everyone comfortable?"

When he got the affirmative, he started.

_Chapter 8 – The Potions Master._

"Oh Merlin! Please tell me that I wasn't so bad that I needed a chapter to myself!" Severus paled.

"If you will kindly shut up and stop worrying, we can read on to find out!" Tom snarled at the man.

"You were just Told, Sir," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville laughed, making Severus growl at them.

_"There, look"_

"what are we looking at," Lucius asked, confused. Harry just rolled his eyes in his direction. He thought that to become the Dark Lord's right hand man, you had to have intelligence. He'd obviously thought wrong.

_"Where"_

"Floating down from the Astronomy Tower," Neville sneered. "Idiots!"

_"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."_

"He just had to be included just then, didn't he?" Hermione pouted, curling into Neville's embrace since she was forbidden from going to Harry when he was in a hospital bed.

"Well, he was my 'best friend' so I guess he had to be mentioned some time," Harry said, watching her sadly.

"True," Hermione sighed.

_"Wearing the glasses?"_

"No, wearing females clothing. Honestly! I thought that you had to be smart to get into Hogwarts!" Luna said with disgust.

"No, just look at Crabbe and Goyle," Blasie pointed out.

"Actually, when they are not acting as Draco's bodyguards they are actually quite smart. Masks come in a variety of forms, don't they Tom?" Harry smirked.

"So you did notice that did you?" Tom responded with a smirk.

"Naturally. Who do you think helps me with my potions theory?" Harry snorted with amusement.

Severus, Draco, Pansy and Blaise all felt their jaws drop.

_"Did you see his face?"_

"Face? What face?" Harry asked, pretending to be really interested in what the book was saying.

_"Did you see is scar?"_

"Is that what it was like for you all the time?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Only until everyone got used to seeing me around. After they had it was whether or not I was going dark, whether or not I was against muggles, whether or not I was clinically insane. Blah, blah, blah," Harry snarked.

Narcissa glared at Draco who looked back at her with indignation.

"Hey! I wasn't the cause of ALL of it!"

"No, just 80% of it," Harry, Hermione and Neville chorused, making Draco blush.

_Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory next day. People queuing outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes._

"That would have really pissed me off!" Blaise said, looking at Harry in a new kind of light.

"You mean you couldn't tell that all I wanted to do was rip their heads off and use them as soccer balls?" Harry asked innocently.

"No," Pansy said, impressed.

"Good, you weren't supposed to," he said decisively.

Everyone just looked at him with blank faces.

_There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step half-way up that you had to remember to jump. Then here were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot._

_The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other and Harry was sure the coats of armour could walk._

"The armour doesn't move around ... does it?" Blaise said, looking at Harry weirdly.

Harry, Tom and Severus looked at him in disbelief. "Yes."

_The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of the glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your ose and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"_

"I remember the first time it happened to you, Harry. It was hilarious!" Neville laughed. Harry blushed.

"I sense a good story! Come on! Tell!" Pansy said, basically bouncing in one spot. Harry blushed slightly deeper and hid his face behind the book that he was reading from.

"Harry here seems to be able to do accidental magic even though he's being trained to control it. It only happens when he is angry or full of adrenalin – or startled," Neville started, grinning.

"Just tell us, Longbottom!" Blaise snapped, impatiently.

"And I thought Slytherins were supposed to be able to hide their ... enthusiasm for certain information," Neville smirked.

"Not our Slyth's Nev. I swear that they have been sorted into the wrong house. They seem more like Gryffindors to me," Harry said from behind the book.

Blaise, Pansy and Draco growled at the quartet, making the four of them smirk in response.

"Mr Longbottom, can you please continue the story?" Narcissa asked.

"Sorry, Madam Malfoy," Neville bowed politely. "Well, when Peeves first did it to Harry, his magic reacted and the next thing we see is Peeves wearing a pair of Bunny ears, a pink leotard, hot pink nine inch stilettos and makeup!"

Everyone laughed as the image hit their mind's eye.

_Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch._

"Argus Filch? Is he still here?" Tom asked, incredulously.

"Yes, and he is even more unpleasant then he used to be," Severus sniped.

"He's not that bad, Sir," Harry yawned then blinked as everyone turned disbelieving eyes towards him. "What? I told you all before that if his cat likes you then he likes you." Everyone continued to stare at him as though he had grown an extra four limbs. Harry sighed and shook his head in resignation.

_Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning. Filch found them trying t force their way through a door which unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break to it n purpose and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing._

Tom blushed making everyone bar Harry to stare at him.. "I do remember how confusing it is to be a first year," he snapped.

"Thank you Uncle Tommy!" Harry squealed with stars shining in his eyes.

"Why me?" Tom groaned, shaking his head slightly as if to rid himself of an annoyance.

"Because you love us!" Harry and Luna teased.

"That can change," Tom growled.

Severus, Pansy, Blaise, Draco, Lucius and Narcissa continued to stare at the man in shock. It seemed that already Harry was having an effect on their Lord.

_Filch owned a cat called Mrs Norris, a scrawny, dust-coloured creature with bulging, lamp-like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and sh'e whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins)_

"And Harry," Hermione, Luna and Neville called out.

_And could pop us as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs Norris a good kick._

"I have kicked her and all she did was run back to me and start rubbing herself along my legs again. She's more of a menace if she likes you!" Harry ranted, glaring at the book.

_And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the lessons themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words._

_They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets._

"I want to know why they do it on a Wednesday and not on a Friday – or at least give the students a later start time the following morning since very few of us in Gryffindor managed to get to sleep after that lesson," Hermione complained.

"It was the same in Slytherin. By the time we got to our dorms, go ready for bed and laid down, it was time for us to get up and get ready for the next day," Pansy agreed with the same amount of annoyance in her voice.

_Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the caste to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout,_

Severus raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk on his lips as Harry said that.

"Well ... she is! It is the perfect shape for a lady dedicated to the fruits of the Earth," Harry defended himself.

"You should have seen her face light up when Harry told her that after a group of younger Slytherins refused to be taught by a short fat lady. I think that was the only week that I wasn't her favourite student," Neville chuckled, thinking back on hat week.

Everyone shook their heads in amusement at what the young man could say and get away with.

_Where they learnt how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and found out what they were used for._

_Easily the most boring lesson was History of Magic, which was the only class taught by a ghost. Professor Binns_

"Is he still teaching here He died the year before I left! And no, I didn't kill him," Tom hurriedly reassured everyone.

"If he was as boring then as he is now, I would have!" Harry complained.

Tom chuckled at the sight of a ranting Harry who was bed-ridden.

_Had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staffroom fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up._

"It's Emeric the oddball and Uric the Evil. Goblin history is so much more accurate and interesting when told by the Goblins," Harry chuckled softly, shaking his head slightly.

_Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk._

"The first time Selthian saw Flitwick, he thought that he was adorable. He kept asking me if he could keep him," Harry giggled.

Lucius and Narcissa blinked. Who was this Selthian?"

_At the start of their first lesson he took the register, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight._

"That is the worst thing he could have done!" Harry groaned.

_Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict ad clever, she gave them a talking to the moment they had sat down in her first class._

"We Slytherins were more scared of Professor McGonagall then we were of anyone else," Draco confessed quietly.

"Other than me, it was the same for Gryffindor," Neville reassured the blonde youth.

"Oh it was, was it?" Severus raised an eyebrow in an intimidating way.

"Yep. Other than Neville, none of us were scared of you, Sir. We just couldn't stand you." Harry stated. Severus looked at the boy in shock for his bluntness while Narcissa and Pansy giggled softly at his reaction.

_"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. "You have been warned."_

_Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realised they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After making a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile._

"Hermione has always been Professor McGonagall's favourite due to her hard work ethic," Neville said with a smile towards the girl.

_The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defence Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days._

"No, Aldron wouldn't go after him unless he hurt Harry. In fact, if Harry hadn't killed him, my Sire would have," Luna said as calmly as if asking about the weather. Everyone who had been unaware of Harry's part in the man's demise stared at him silently, causing him to nervously clear his throat.

_His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't' sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went._

_Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start._

"That's what's stupid about having muggleborns arrive – we can't learn the material earlier," Draco complained.

"And yet a muggleborn beat you in perfecting most – if not all – of the practicals we've had since first year," Harry pointed out sweetly. Draco sneered at him without any heat in it. Harry just smiled at him and blew him a kiss, making Draco flush slightly.

_Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once._

"Big deal," Blaise muttered.

"It is when you finally discover whereabouts the Gryffindor common room is," Severus said with his eyebrows raised.

"Really?" Blaise asked, disbelief colouring his voice.

"Yes. With us Slytherins, all we need to do is walk up one set of stairs. The Gryffindors have to basically walk from one end of the castle to the other – not counting the staircases," Severus instructed.

"Wow, that is quite a distance," Pansy and Blaise blinked.

_"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge._

"Let me guess, Ronald likes his porridge with lots of sugar?" Narcissa said, wrinkling her nose.

"Oh well done! How'd you guess?" Luna said happily.

"Because I can't see Harry there having much of a taste for pure sugar ... unless it is in the form of toffee," Narcissa confessed.

"You're correct there, Mrs Malfoy. Harry does have a sweet tooth but he doesn't like sugar on his cereal – he prefers honey, milk and cinnamon – I'm also assuming that you've remembered that he always vanished his food to Ron's plate," Neville said with a half-smile.

"Yes, I have."

_"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favours them – we'll be able to see if it's true."_

_"Wish McGonagall favoured us,"_

"I must admit that Minerva doesn't favour one house over another," Severus sighed.

"That's because she has her own badger, snake and raven in her house," Harry smiled softly.

"I still can't get over the fact that you should have been in Slytherin!" Severus pouted.

"Don't worry Sir. I can be as much as a pain in the arse to you as a lion as I can be as a snake," Harry said lazily as he stretched.

"We don't doubt it!" everyone in the room chorused in amusement.

_Said Harry. Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her giving them a huge pile of homework the day before._

_Just then, the post arrived. Harry had got used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners and dropping letters and packages on to their laps._

_Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note on to Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once._

"I was terrified that the Dursleys had managed to send something so I had to get to it before anyone else did," Harry chuckled grimly. Hermione, Luna and Neville exchanged grim looks at that information.

_Dear Harry, it said, in a very untidy scrawl,_

_I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig._

_Hagrid._

"It always surprised me that Hagrid has been such a good friend to me over the years," Harry said softly, lowering the book slightly.

"He's one of the people who like you for who you are, not for who your parents were or for who the Wizarding World believes you to be," Luna said softly, running her fingers through Harry's hair, making him almost purr in pleasure and half-close his eyes.

_Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled "Yes, please, see you later' on the back of the note and sent Hedwig off again._

_It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far._

"Why do I get the feeling that I will be grounding you like I will be doing to Draco?" Narcissa said in a deceptively calm voice. Severus lowered his head, blushing brightly. "MEN! Stupid the lot of them!"

"We'll take that as a compliment. Thank you!" Harry and Neville chorused with cheeky grins, making Narcissa blink at them, speechless.

_At the start of term banquet, Harry had got the idea that Professor Snape disliked him._

"What gave you that idea?" Hermione said, voice heavy with sarcasm.

_By the end of the first Potion's lesson, he knew he'd been wrong._

"Um ... come again? What do you mean you were wrong?" Neville asked, incredulous. Harry just smirked at the teen.

_Snape didn't dislike Harry – he hated him._

"You had me going there for a minute," Neville chuckled.

"I still don't agree with that though. Snape didn't – doesn't just hate me. He positively LOATHED me," Harry said with heavy emphasis on the word 'loathed'. Severus groaned and hid his face in his hands, whimpering softly.

_Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls._

"I didn't think it was creepy. I found that it made me hungry," Harry frowned.

"Harry, you find watching Aldron drain someone makes you hungry," Neville said in exasperation.

"It also turns me on, but your point?" Harry shrugged.

"Never mind Sweet," Neville sighed.

"Sweet?" Draco asked softly, narrowing his eyes at Neville.

_Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the register, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name._

Severus cringed sharply as he listened to his first lesson with Harry from the boy's point of view.

_"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new – celebrity."_

"Severus Snape! Now I know where Draco gets it!" Narcissa snapped sharply. Severus blushed in shame, knowing he had been way out of line.

_Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands._

"Sorry Harry," Draco whispered, also lowering his head.

"It's alright. You can kiss it better later," Harry said with a slight shrug.

"Not if I have anything to say about it you won't!" Hermione growled at the black haired teen.

"If you do not leave Harry to live his life, I will give you to my sire to turn AFTER I tell him all you've done to make his life hell these past few months. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Luna almost shrieked, eyes flashing and fangs descending fully in her anger.

"Yes Luna," Hermione pouted, sounding and looking much like an adolescent who's mother told them they couldn't go to that night's party.

"GOOD!" Luna hissed.

"She's just as scary as Harry is ... can you imagine what it would be like after he's been turned?" Tom whimpered slightly.

Draco, Blaise, Lucius, Narcissa, Pansy and Severus stared at Tom in horror. They hadn't thought about that.

_Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels._

"It would be lovely to listen to you if you read poetry, Harry. You have the voice for it," Narcissa sighed in appreciation.

"Thank you Mrs Malfoy," Harry blushed before reading again, imitating Severus particularly well.

_"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began._

"Your voice is wasted on first years, Sir," Harry stated, interrupting himself.

"What do you mean by that, Mr Potter?" Severus drawled.

"It's Harry," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "And what I mean by that is your voice is like rich, dark, velvety chocolate with a hint of crème de menthe giving a promise of good things to come."

Severus blinked in surprise while Narcissa, Lucius and Tom sniggered.

_He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word – like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort._

"Yeah. Add that voice with your snarkiness and no one will talk around you. In the older classes, the female students and a good portion of the male students are quiet just so they can let your voice wash over them. I think that most of the wet dreams the gay and bisexual males in this school have are caused from your voice," Neville said with a sly smirk in the potions master's direction.

"That's true!" Harry, Luna, Hermione, Pansy, Blaise and Draco confirmed, even though Draco did so against his better judgement. Who wants to think of people thinking of one of their parental figures in a sexual manner?

Severus looked at the seven students as though he had never seen them before.

_"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."_

Everyone – including Severus and excluding Harry – shook themselves free of the spell Harry's voice had woven around them.

"Wow. You do that just as good as the Professor," Hermione whispered, eyes wide.

"What do you expect with the amount of times I have to listen to him while in detention with him?" Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"Is that really everyone's reaction to that speech?" Severus gulped, nervously.

"NO! To your voice in general!" the seven students admitted.

_More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raise eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead._

"I was such a nightmare!" Hermione paled.

"What do you mean 'was'?" Harry asked with a smirk. Hermione pouted at him.

_"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"_

"OH dear ..." Lucius said, suddenly fearing for his best friend's life.

_Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air._

"La la la I can't hear you!" Hermione shouted, covering her ears as Harry rolled his eyes at her.

_"I don't know, sir," said Harry._

_Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut – fame clearly isn't everything."_

Severus lowered his head lower in shame.

_He ignored Hermione's hand._

_"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"_

_Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter._

Draco lowerd his head in shame like Severus had done just moments before when he saw his mother's lips narrow in anger.

"O-oh. It's only going to get worse from here," Pansy whispered, paling in fear and shame.

_"I don't know, sir."_

_"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"_

"Just as that was said, all I could think about was how much like Quirrel Snape sounded," Harry said, deep in thought before shrugging his thoughts away.

_Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes._

"You kept eye contact with him while he was yelling at you?" Lucius asked, looking at the teen with awe.

"Yeah, why?" Harry asked, confused.

"I'm his best friend and I've never been able to even look at him while he was yelling at me!" Lucius explained, now looking at the boy with wide eyes.

"The Brat always does it. And all he does is glare at me. I think there have been two times that I've been very close to submitting to him," Severus admitted, making Tom's, Lucius', Narcissa's, Pansy's, Blaise's and Draco's jaws drop in shock. Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville look at the seven of them in confusion.

"Severus is a dominant Fae. He never backs down from a fight – and I mean NEVER!" Lucius explained after gaining a nod of permission from the man in question.

"How odd. I can be either dominant or submissive, but I tend to lean towards the submissive, I must admit," Harry said with a slight frown.

Draco looked at Harry with a slight gleam in his eye before looking away from him quickly with a slight blush.

_He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?_

_Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand._

_"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"_

_At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching towards the dungeon ceiling._

_"I don't know," said Harry quietly._

"That's Harry at his most dangerous!" Hermione, Luna and Neville shuddered.

_"I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"_

"You didn't. Please say that you didn't!" Lucius and Narcissa beg, going pale.

"I did. I wasn't going to allow some teacher who didn't know me make me feel as if I was nothing but slime on the bottom of his cauldron just for his own entertainment. If he had grown up at all, he would have realised that I am not James Potter – no matter how much I resemble him. I did not know James Potter, since he died when I was one and when he first met me I was eleven years old and INNOCENT OF THE CRIMES OF MY FAMILY!" Harry's voice got steadily louder until he was shouting in the direction of the cringing man who was desperately trying to vanish into the seat he was sitting on.

"How does he do that?" Blaise whispered in awe as he watched his Head of House become a naughty child who was being disciplined.

"I don't know. I don't think I want to know!" Pansy responded, eyes wide as she witnessed the same thing.

_A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased._

"Now that's the understatement of the centuary!" Neville chuckled, breaking the atmosphere that had appeared when Harry had started yelling at the Potions Master.

_"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"_

"I knew I was strict, feared and hated by all but my Slytherins, but I never believed that I was that much of a bastard to those not in Slytherin," Severus whispered, shocked by what was being revealed.

"You do hold the record for making the most Hufflepuffs cry!" Harry said cheerfully as though it was something to celebrate. Severus winced at the truth of the uttered words.

_There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."_

Narcissa growled, making Severus pale and Draco to whimper. Lucius tried to move away from his wife without making it seem as though he was moving away from her.

_Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like._

"You told us that there would be no favouritism in your class towards him – you know just as we and he do that you've been tutoring him in Potions since he was old enough to not want to taste the result!" Lucius and Narcissa growled, staring him down.

Severus cleared his throat and did his best not to fidget under the intense glares he could feel coming from Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville.

_He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. N3eville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class were standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs._

"I was so nervous that lesson because Gran had never let me near an empty cauldron let alone one with something in it. It was all I could do to not panic when the Professor opened the door to come in!" Neville blushed

"And now he is our main potion brewer," Harry said, giving the boy a beaming smile, to which Neville had no choice but smile back to.

_"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose youadded the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"_

_Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose._

_"Take him to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he round on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville._

"You didn't. Please say I didn't," Narcissa growled at the man.

Harry looked at her with large innocent eyes. "He didn't what? Give me a flower? I can assure you that he didn't do that."

Severus paled more than anyone had believed was possible and whimpered when Narcissa turned her dangerously narrowed eyes at him.

_"You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."_

"SEVERUS SNAPE! THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!" Narcissa screamed at him.

"You know something? You really are a bastard Severus," Tom said almost chattily.

"I know! But I have no idea at why I did that!" Severus almost sobbed.

"Do you want the list?" Harry asked innocently.

"NO!" Severus shouted in panic.

"YES!" everyone else in the room chorused, overpowering Severus's words.

"I'm a Potter, Gryffindor, a Potter, the Brat-Who-Lived, a Potter, supposedly arrogant, a Potter, supposedly light, a Potter – Oh ... and did I say A Potter?" Harry said cheerily.

"Can someone please crucio me?" Severus sobbed slightly.

"CRUCIO!" Harry and Luna giggled, pointing their wands at the man and holding him under the spell for a count of ten. The room was silent other than the pained sobs of the dour man who was on the ground before them. "What? He asked!"

_This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron._

_"Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."_

"So that's what he told you!" Draco gapped.

"Yep," Harry popped the 'p'

"Would you have really said something if he hadn't have stopped you?" Pansy asked, intrigued.

"You bet your sweet arse I would have!" Harry growled.

"And I would have reacted strongly, taking it as a threat to my dominance in my own domain," Severus said shamefully.

"But I was eleven. Surely that was much too early for me to be a threat to you," Harry frowned.

"Even back then you were and still are more powerful then I am and my instincts tell me that if I don't keep you in your place, then you will run me off my territory," Severus explained with a sigh.

Harry blinked at him, still frowning slightly.

_As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week – why did Snape hate him so much?_

"Please see List A," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville laughed.

_"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"_

_At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door._

_When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang – back."_

_Hagrid's big hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open._

_"Hang on,' he said. "Back, Fang."_

_He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound._

"That dog is such a kitten!" Harry said with a shake of his head.

_There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it._

_"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears._

"Ewww! Wet Willie!" Hermione said, wrinkling her nose. Harry couldn't help but snort in amusement.

_Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not a fierce as he looked._

_"This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes on to a plate._

_"Another Weasley, eh?" said hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."_

_The rock cakes almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons. Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes._

_"It is his only sign of affection – that he drools all over you," Harry said with some amusement._

"Ewww!" Pansy said, quoting Hermione.

_Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch 'that old git'._

_"An' as fer that cat, Mrs Norris, I'd like to introduce her to Fang some time._

"He has done that and Fang ran off whining!" Neville said with a short laugh, making everyone laugh with him.

"You're kidding!" Blaise exclaimed after he caught his breath.

"No, it's true," Neville gasped.

_D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her Filch puts her up to it."_

_Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students._

_"But he seemed to really hate me."_

_"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why would he"_

Severus blushed as everyone around him chorused, "Because he's/I'm a Potter!"

_Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that._

"That's because he can't lie to you," Hermione said with a fond smile.

"And he was forbidden to tell you anything," Luna growled.

_"How's yer brother Charlie" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot – great with animals."_

_Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cosy._

"And you noticed that how?" Tom asked after looking at the teen for a few moments.

"I saw a small corner of it from under it.," Harry responded, rolling his eyes.

"If it was hidden, why did you pull it out?" Lucius drawled in amusement.

"It wasn't hidden, it just happened to have been placed under something that was hot," Harry drawled back with a smirk. "Besides, it also had my name at the top of it."

_It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:_

_GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST_

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dar Wizards or witches unknown._

_Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day._

_"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said Gringotts' spokesgoblin this afternoon."_

_Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date._

_"Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"_

_There was no doubt about it, Hagrid had definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time._

"I told you that Hagrid can't keep a secret," Harry said in a superior tone of voice.

"At least not from you," Luna said with a roll of her eyes.

"That is just a technicality," Harry stated, waving his hand negligently, as though the discussion wasn't worth his time.

_He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?_

"Yes," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville deadpanned.

_As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid._

"I bet!" Tom chuckled.

_Had Hagrid collected that package just in time?_

"Yes," they deadpanned again, much to Narcissa's amusement.

_Where was it now?_

"In the school," Hermione stated, her voice saying the obvious, but verbally missing 'duh'.

_And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?_

"Of course he does," Lucius smirked.

"Yes, of course he does ... Like that fact that his favourite colour is a delicate mix of pink and purple and that his private rooms are actually red and gold in colour," Harry said with a straight face. Severus looked at Harry as though he had gone insane. "Or maybe that he has a fetish for women's underwear. Don't worry, Remus enjoys wearing thongs."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Hermione managed to shout while everyone else chocked on their inhaled breath.

"Yes Hermione?" Harry asked with an innocent look on his face.

"Argh!" she screamed in frustration at her inability to stay angry with her brother by blood magic.

Harry laughed at Hermione's reaction and slowly put the book down with a slight wince. "I think the potion is starting to work Neville." He said softly.

Neville nodded and checked Harry's injuries before handing him another potion. "Last one then no more for the next few days – as long as you eat."

Harry nodded and downed the liquid in the vial. "I think we'll have time to do another chapter before dinner, so why don't you start reading, Hermione? But before you do, could you write 'followed Ron' to that list of mine? Thanks."

Harry lay back against the sightly raised bed head and groaned softly in relief as the tingling in his arm left as he relaxed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Hermione settled herself in a seat between Tom and Harry as Luna ran out of the room to write on Harry's list. When she returned only moments later, she sat in Neville's lap and cuddled into him.

Hermione looked around the room and smiled softly. "Are we all comfy?" At the numerous nods of accent, Hermione opened the book to her page.

_Chapter 9 – The Midnight Duel_

Draco paled dangerous.

"Not again, Draco!" Narcissa cried in frustration.

_Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy._

"Do you hate me that much?" Draco asked quietly, tears forming in his eyes without his consent.

"I did when you acted like a four-year-old who had just been told they can't have sweets before dinner – Or when anything you didn't like happened and you'd threaten us with 'Your Father' who ended up doing your dirty work for you," Harry state without emotion. Both Draco and Lucius blushed under the gazes of everyone in the room.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who that works on," Severus stated with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it works on everyone who has even a smidgeon of a heart – even us," Neville said softly.

_Still, first year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common-room which made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday – and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together._

"Typical, isn't it?" Harry asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Yes. It happens every year," Pansy said, also shaking her head.

_"Typical,"_

"Told ya," Harry smirked.

_Said Harry darkly. "Just what I wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."_

_He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else._

"I wasn't!" Hermione and Neville called out to much laughter.

_"You don't know you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."_

_Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories which always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters._

"And everyone knew that he was not being truthful because everyone knows that Malfoy lands are spelled against Muggle invasion," Harry and Neville chorused, making Draco blush and Narcissa to smirk at her son.

_He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang-glider on Charlie's old broom. Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly._

"The wizarding world needs to get more sports. Not everyone likes to fly," Harry said.

_Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about football. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham football team, trying to make the players move._

"And this was after I had already told him that people in muggle photos and pictures don't move," Harry snorted in disgust.

"Yes, but you must admit that it was funny to watch him do it. For a supposed muggle-loving family, they know absolutely nothing about muggles." Neville laughed.

_Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had a good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground._

"We Professors were thinking the same thing," Severus said.

"I was thinking the same thing!" Neville said, poking himself hard in the chest to make a point.

_Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book –Not that she hadn't tried._

_At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd got out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging onto her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the post._

_Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table._

Draco winced under his mother's glare.

_A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke._

_"It's a remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things – this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red – oh …" His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "… you've forgotten something…"_

"I never understood why she got you that Neville. It was like she wanted to humiliate you," Hermione said softly.

"I think, in a way she did want to humiliate me. Oh! That reminds me," Neville reached into his bag and pulled out a clear ball and threw it to Draco. "You can have it now if you want it. I no longer need it." Neville smirked as Draco flushed once more when her realised exactly what it was that he had caught.

_Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand._

Narcissa and Lucius glared at Draco, their eyes promising a private talk with the two of them.

_Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash._

_"What's going on?"_

_"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."_

_Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table._

_"Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him._

"Now I know why you wanted the Hand of Glory," Harry said with a sideways glance at Draco, gaging his reaction.

"What … How …" Lucius stuttered.

"LUCIUS MALFOY! Did you take Draco into that store after I told you not to?" Narcissa scowled, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at him stonily.

"A … Oh … Um …" Lucius continued to stutter.

"You are in big trouble!" she continued.

"I'm guessing that there is nothing for you tonight Lucius," Harry said in a mock-sympathetic tone.

Everyone in the room other than Narcissa, who was nodding her agreement, choked on either their tongues or their saliva.

_At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance._

_The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left._

"Hey, Lucius? If all the Governors have money, then why aren't the Hogwarts brooms updated? I don't mean for you all to go out and buy the latest brooms – but how about something that is aged at after the founders died?" Harry half-asked, half-complained.

Tom laughed at the way Harry had put it. Why hadn't he discovered how much fun it was to be around the boy before this had occurred?

"I was told that the brooms are updated every five to ten years," Lucius said with a frown.

"They aren't. The brooms we learnt on were missing twigs, flew to one side or were so hard to control that you had to use your entire body weight to move one direction – and when I tried to land mine, nothing I did could make it go down. It wouldn't have even obeyed Harry or Draco and they are the best in our year on a broom." Neville injected.

"I am going to have to look into this," Lucius said, still frowning. "I may have to sit down and look through all the things that the money we give to the school is spent on. If the money isn't being used to buy proper equipment for the students to learn with, then I want to know what it is being spent on."

_Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk._

_"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."_

_Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles._

_"Stick your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say "Up!""_

"She's a wonderful ref – but a lousy teacher," Pansy stated firmly.

"Agreed!" Harry wheezed out from where Neville had just pushed his hands into his stomach, checking on some organ or other.

_"UP!" everyone shouted._

_Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground._

"Actually it's the amount of magic you put into the command. I think that's why it works on people when I order them to do something," Harry shrugged.

"Hey Harry, remember Dumbles?" Luna giggled suddenly.

"How can I forget!" Harry said with a short laugh.

"What did you do?" Tom asked, almost hyperactively.

"Yeah, come on! Tell!" Pansy encouraged.

"In that tone of voice, he held up a large screw – if you remember the screwdriver –" Neville asked. The pure-bloods in the room all nodded.

"Well, he held a screw up and told the headmaster to … to …" Hermione burst into hysterical laughter.

"To what?" Lucius asked, feeling as though he shouldn't really ask in the first place.

"For crying out loud, it wasn't that funny! I told him to sit on it and rotate," Harry eventually snapped.

"BRILLIANT!" Tom cackled insanely.

"And did he?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"YES!" Hermione, Luna and Neville cackled.

Blaise, Narcissa, Lucius, Pansy and Draco turned pale green at the thought of seeing that.

_Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years._

Draco pouted in Harry's direction only to pout more when he realised that Harry wasn't paying him any attention.

"Mmmm, broomstick. I'll have to remember to loan mine to Aldron. I'm sure he'll get a thrill watching me ride it," Harry moaned, licking his lips slightly with a dazed look on his face.

"You're a kinky bugger aren't you?" Blaise smirked.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Harry asked innocently.

_"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,"_

Harry opened his mouth but was prevented the chance to say something when Hermione, Neville and Luna quickly slapped their hands over his mouth. "Don't even think of it," they hissed, ignoring his glare.

"What was that about?" Pansy asked, watching the four of them in confusion.

"He'd say something like 'the harder the better' and honestly, we have all heard nothing else for nearly three months," Neville stated as the three of them removed their hands from Harry's mouth, only to reveal a pout.

_Said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly._

"Slightly?" Neville scoffed. "I was pudgy and with me using my entire weight didn't help me get down!"

_On my whistle – three – two –"_

_But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips._

_"Come back, boy!"_

"Yeah, like that works," Neville sneered.

_she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle – twelve feet – twenty feet. Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away,_

"That was when I tried to get the broom to go down," Neville explained to the confused faces of the adults in the room.

_saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and –_

_WHAM – a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the forbidden forest and out of sight._

_Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his._

_"Broken wrist,"_

"I'm surprised that you only got a broken wrist! Something has to be done about those brooms!" Narcissa exclaimed.

"OH, I definitely agree, dear," Lucius said with a deep frown.

_Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy – it's alright, up you get."_

_She turned to the rest of the class._

_"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say "Quidditch". Come on, dear."_

"No. No. No. No. No. No!" Draco chanted softly under his breath, paling again.

"Not again Draco!" Lucius and Narcissa scowled. Draco whimpered softly, making the two of them shake their heads in disappointment.

_Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him._

_No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter._

_"Did you see his face, the great lump?"_

Draco, Pansy and Blaise lowered their heads in shame for their actions against the quiet Gryffindor.

"Sorry, Neville," Draco whispered.

"Awww, how sweet!" Harry squealed.

"Only you, Harry," Neville sighed, after glaring at the cheekily grinning teen.

_The other Slytherins joined in._

_"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil._

_"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl, "Never though you'd like fat little cry babies, Parvati."_

"Sorry Neville," Pansy said with a wince.

"That's okay Pansy. You're a Slytherin – I was expecting it from you," Neville said with a shrug, making the girl blush even deeper with shame as she realised that they had played right into the hands of prejudice.

_"Look!" Said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass, "it's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."_

_The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up._

"I was hoping that it would have been broken!" Neville spat viciously. Lucius and Narcissa exchanged worried looks.

_"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch._

"That was the quietest you've ever spoken to Draco, I think," Blaise said, thinking back on that day.

"Harry is at his most dangerous when he's quiet," Luna pointed out.

"But he's never quiet around me," Tom said in puzzlement.

"Maybe because I was pretending. You know – for you, the Death Munchers and for the Order of the Royally Roasted Robin," Harry pointed out.

"Death Munchers?" Narcissa asked with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah!" Harry beamed. "You know – Lord what's-his-name and the Death Munchers … Or was it Death Nibblers? Oh well, you win some, you lose some." Harry shrugged.

"Death … Nibblers?" Lucius' voice cracked.

_Malfoy smiled nastily._

_"I think I'll leave it somewhere of Longbottom to collect – how about – up a tree?"_

"And I used to be proud of that behaviour from you? What was wrong with me?" Severus asked, going extremely pale.

"Nothing was wrong with you, Sir. You were just a bastard," Harry chirped.

"Seconded!" Hermione, Neville and Luna chorused.

Lucius and Tom smirked at each other in amusement.

_"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt on to his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well –_

"Not to mention that it gave a great view of your arse!" Harry purred.

"We were 11!" Draco cried, blushing in mortification.

"So? I was an early developer," Harry shrugged.

"How old were you when you met Aldron?" Tom asked, genuinely curious.

"Eight – but I didn't bed him til a few years later, and I wasn't aware of Luna until Summer before 3rd year."

"And how old were you when you first bedded him?" Narcissa asked, icily.

"When whatever creature blood I've got had fully matured," Harry drawled, making the Malfoy family matriarch to blush lightly.

_Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"_

"With pleasure!" Harry said, a gleam in his eye. Hermione scoffed softly and hit him on the arm.

_Harry grabbed his broom._

_"No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move – you'll get us all into trouble."_

"La, la, la, not listening!" Hermione sang, putting her fingers in her ears.

_Harry ignored her. Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared, air rushed through his hair and his robes whipped out behind him – and in a rush of fierce joy he realised he'd found something he could do without being taught – this was easy, this was wonderful._

"At that moment I knew the true meaning of freedom. The closest I'd ever been was when Al took me flying," Harry said dreamily.

_He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher and hear screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron._

_He turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in mid-air. Malfoy looked stunned._

"He wasn't the only one. All that we Slytherin's could do was fish imitations. We knew that you had been living with muggles and here you were out-flying Draco – who is the best of our fliers," Blaise chuckled.

"We were also wondering what would happen to Draco since he is – well – was – a coward," Pansy admitted with a blush as Draco glared at her.

_"Give it here," Harry called, "Or I'll knock you off that broom!"_

_"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried._

_Harry knew, somehow, what to do. He leant forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands and it shot towards Malfoy like a javelin. Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Harry made a sharp about turn and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping._

"I don't know if they were clapping because you were good, or because you nearly made Draco fall," Hermione giggled softly.

"Probably the latter," Neville and Luna giggled.

_"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called._

_The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy._

_"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back towards the ground._

Severus paled as Hermione and Neville taunted, "Shouldn't have done that!"

_Harry saw, as though in slow motion,_

Draco's jaw dropped.

"Draco?" Harry asked carefully.

"Slow motion? You saw it in slow motion? When I got on the ground, I couldn't even see it!" Draco ranted.

"I always knew that I was better at seeking then you," Harry smirked.

"Yeah, you are. But I'm better at potions!" Draco said, grudgingly.

"True – but I have Nev to make my potions for me so I don't need to top you in that class," Harry said laughing, making Draco blush.

"Do you think that Draco and Harry could be mates?" Lucius asked Narcissa and Severus quietly.

"Maybe. Draco has always been obsessed with Harry," Narcissa said slowly.

"Just think, Draco – if we are mates, we've had five years of foreplay!" Harry laughed.

"HARRY!" everyone groaned.

"What? Um … Draco. If we are mates, will you forbid me from seeing Al? I don't think I'll be able to stay away from him. I need him just as much as he needs me," he asked, suddenly shy.

"If we are mates, I won't try to separate you from him," Draco promised.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Harry chanted, throwing himself at the blonde and pressing his mouth softly to Draco's and moaning softly.

"Harry?" Luna said after catching the look on Hermione's face and sighing in annoyance at the female.

"Mmm?" Harry responded to let her know that he was listening, while still keeping his lips attached to Draco's.

Luna pulled Harry away from Draco with a sad look on her face, making Harry whine softly. "I know you want to stay like that, Honey, but Hermione is looking like she's about to implode, and Neville looks like he wants to tie you to the bed so you can't move til you are better."

"I'm starting to get sick of this fucking shit!" Harry muttered angrily, glaring at nothing in particular.

_The ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leant forward and pointed his broom handle down – next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball – wind whistling in his ears, mingled with the screams of people watching – he stretched out his hand – a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently on to the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in his fist._

"That's how you got onto the team?" Narcissa, Tom, Lucius and Severus shrieked.

"Yep, yep, yep," Harry said in an obvious effort to get himself out of his temper.

"NO MORE LAND BEFORE TIME!" Neville, Hermione and Luna shouted at him.

"That's what I yelled after babysitting Tian for the week. That girl is obsessed!" Harry grinned an honest grin.

"Who's Tian?" Tom asked.

"A two-year-old with a dinosaur obsession – oh well, at least she's past her Barbie faze," Harry said.

"It was so funny seeing you in that pink dress with wings and your hair up in ponytails done by a five-year old when you babysat Tian and Georgie," Hermione giggled, happy now that Harry wasn't being intimate with anyone.

Elise chimed and put up a photo making everyone – even Harry – laugh.

"Al made it worth while," Harry said with a smirk at Blaise. "You think I'm kinky. I've nothing on him. He's got a kink list 2 miles long and it grown continuously."

"I'm oh so happy for you," Hermione snapped hatefully at Harry, making him sigh dejectedly.

_"HARRY POTTER!"_

_His heart sank faster than he'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running towards them. He got to his feet, trembling._

_"Never – in all my time at Hogwarts –"_

"She saw you do that and she didn't kill you herself? I'm impressed," Tom blurted in astonishment.

"She couldn't kill me, Uncle Tommie. She had to leave that to you," Harry said teasingly.

"Cheeky brat," Tom muttered, a small smile on his lips.

"But you wuv me," Harry said cutely.

_Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously," –ho dare you – might have broken you neck-"_

_"It wasn't his fault, Professor –"_

_"Be quiet, Miss Patil –"_

_"But Malfoy –"_

_"That's enough, Mr Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."_

_Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left,_

Narcissa glared at Draco, making him fidget.

_Walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode towards the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it. He wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up. Now he'd don't it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks. He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?_

"If they saw me, they would have said that I couldn't even be a freak right – but I wouldn't have gone near them since Aldron would have got me first," Harry said, ending with a small smile.

"Really?" Severus asked in interest.

"Yeah. He would have turned me, and then taught me – and the Ministry wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it because I had been expelled from the wizarding world and was apprenticed in the Vampire world," Harry said with a smile.

"Apprenticed in what?" Tom asked, tilting his head to one side.

"Whatever he could teach me, starting with Al's specialty – blood magic," Harry grinned darkly, causing Tom to shudder.

_Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking him to Dumbledore. He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper._

"There is something wrong with that. If he was expelled then he shouldn't have been able to stay on the school grounds," Blaise stated.

"Dumbledore knew that he was innocent but instead of searching for the one who was guilty, he allowed the Ministry to do what they wanted to him, since he was only a half-breed," Harry sneered, noticing Tom looking down in shame out the corner of his eye.

_Perhaps he could be Hagrid's assistant._

Lucius, Narcissa and Tom wrinkled their noses at the thought.

"You wouldn't have been expelled – Not the Boy-Who-Lived," Severus said with a roll of his eyes. How had he never seen how much of a drama queen the boy was.

"I've never been that person, he was just a fictional character that the wizarding world created and that I had to play. I am just … Harry," Harry protested.

"And you have more political power in one finger than I do in my name and fortune, what with the houses of Potter and Black," Lucius pointed out.

"There is something that I don't understand," Tom interrupted.

"There are many things you don't understand," Harry shot back.

"Ha-ha very funny," Tom sneered good-naturedly. "If Harry is now the Lord Black, why are Bellatrix, Narcissa and Draco still in that line?"

"Narcissa and Draco have honestly not annoyed me enough for me to kick them out of the Black family. As for Bellatrix," Harry let a spine-chilling smile to cross his face. "According to pure-blood law – which is what the Ministry runs on – the Lord of a family can punish any and all members of their line in any way they wish without fear of an extended visit to Azkaban. So why would I want to give that privilege up? If I wished to, I could do to her what she did to the Longbottoms and no one, not even you Tom, could prevent, stop or punish me for doing it," he finished smugly.

"I'm glad I'm not your aunt, Draco," Pansy gulped.

"I almost feel sorry for her," Blaise also gulped.

"I agree with both of you," Draco shivered.

"But I'm not going to kill her, just … play with her a bit," Harry pouted.

"Now I'm not scared for her, I'm TERRIFIED for her," Lucius gulped.

_His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others becoming wizards while he stumped around the grounds carrying Hagrid's bag._

"That is a painful image," Tom winced.

"Particularly since I immediately thought of Ron being a wizard when I didn't think he really deserved to be one," Harry agreed with his own wince.

_Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside._

_"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood_

"Former Gryffindor," Luna started.

"Captain and keeper of Gryffindor's dream team," Neville continued.

"Professional Quidditch player – tried to convince the other members of the dream team to go professional," Harry followed.

"But failed to do so. Quidditch obsessed, but still managed to graduate tenth in his year with eight N.E. ," Hermione said with a shake of her head at the though of that boy's obsession with quidditch.

"Works part-time in an apothecary stocking shelves saying that the work helps him keep in shape," Luna finished.

_For a moment?"_

_Wood? Thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?_

"You honestly thought that?" Severus asked, spinning his head to look at Harry in shock.

"Yeah. Every time I did something 'wrong'," Harry began.

See also: Freakish," Hermione, Luna and Neville sneered, glaring at the book as though it was at fault.

"I was hit with something or put in my cupboard for a week or more – and since I didn't have a cupboard," Harry trailed off meaningfully, keeping narrowed eyes on his friends.

Severus nodded his understanding of the situation and found himself thinking longingly of cursing Petunia Dursley.

_But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused._

_"Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry._

"Surprisingly not because I was Harry Potter, but because he thought that he would be needing to tutor me in something but none of the teachers had told him that one of the first years were having trouble with their lessons – not that we had been there long enough for them to know if we were or not," Harry said with a small smile.

_"In here."_

_Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom which was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard._

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville all chuckle at the mention of the poltergeist.

_"Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys._

_"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood – I've found you a Seeker."_

"She rewarded your disobedience," Severus grumbled.

"Stop thinking about it like a Hufflepuff and think like a Slytherin!" Harry snapped, finally at the end of his tether. "To get you started I'll give you a few hints. Think of the amount of time the Quidditch players practice, now think of the amount of time that is needed to do all the research, reading, writing and re-writing that is needed for the first year, now think of the amount of sleep you need in a day. Get the picture?"

Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Tom, Lucius and Narcissa looked at him with their jaws slightly open in shock.

"She was punishing you through making you work hard," Severus whispered in shock.

"What no one else knew was that to keep my place on the team, I needed to get at least a high acceptable for every subject, without fail for the first five years of my education without fail and if I got less, then I would be spending every Sunday with her watching me do my homework and making me redo the entire thing from scratch if she wasn't happy with it. She would even destroy my notes so I would have to research it again!" he continued to snap.

"Now I know why we were terrified of her," Pansy said with wide eyes.

_Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight._

_"Are you serious, Professor?"_

_"Absolutely,' said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"_

_"In that way – Yes," Harry said._

"Harry! Stop thinking with your dick!" Hermione growled, clenching her fists tightly.

"I wasn't you ignorant twit! The only times I had been on a broomstick before that I was either being hit with one or using one to sweep up a mess that Dudley had made!" Harry snarled, eyes flashing dangerously.

"I'm sorry Harry," Hermione whispered with tears in her eyes from Harry calling her an ignorant twit.

_Harry nodded silently. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs._

_"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive,"_

"You were still holding it?" Blaise laughed, trying to disperse the tense atmosphere that was surrounding Harry.

"Yeah. I didn't think I remembered holding it to be truthful. I was completely numb," Harry responded shortly, visibly trying to restrain his temper.

_Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."_

_Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once._

"They had," Neville and Luna stated.

_"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" He asked excitedly._

_"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained._

_"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood. Now walking around Harry and staring at him. "Light – speedy – we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor – a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."_

"It wasn't you that requested the broom?" Severus asked in shock.

"The only thing that I knew about brooms is that they were the best way to clean un-carpeted floors," Harry snorted in irritation.

_"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks …"_

"And that was before her team lost 480: nil to Hufflepuff!" Severus laughed, making everyone bar Harry – who was still in one of his moods – to laugh with him.

_Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry._

_"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you."_

_Then she suddenly smiled._

"She smiled … One of the Dragon ladies of Hogwarts actually smiled!" Lucius gaped in shock.

"Now you know why any time we get a crotchety elderly lady in, we get Harry to deal with her," Neville chuckled.

_"Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."_

"Why is it that everyone always told me about James but never Lily?" Harry asked in annoyance.

"Shouldn't you be calling them Mum and Dad?" Pansy asked tentatively.

"I never knew them so they may be my parents, but it is easier to talk about them as James and Lily," Harry responded with a shrug, slowly calming down.

_"You're joking."_

_It was dinner time. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie half-way to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it._

"Miracles do happen!" Harry, Hermione and Neville chorused.

"Seeker?" he said. "But first years never – you must be the youngest house player in about –"

"- a century," said Harry, shovelling pie into his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon.

"And ended up throwing up when we got back to the common room," Harry and Neville said, shaking their heads.

_"Wood told me."_

_Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at Harry._

"And."

"So starts."

"The."

"Jealousy."

"Must you do that?" Draco whined.

"Just wait until the twins get here – we are worse with them," Harry smirked.

_"I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."_

_Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry and hurried over._

_"Well done," said George in a low voice, "Wood told us. We're on the team too – Beaters."_

_"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch up for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, wood was almost skipping when he told us."_

"Now that is a scary thought," Severus stated without thinking.

_"Anyway, we've got to go; Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."_

_"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."_

_Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle._

"Gryffindor had a poll going as to whether those two followed you into the bathroom," Harry interrupted with a grin.

_"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"_

Draco whimpered and tried to hide from the huff of air that came from his mother.

"Why me, my Lord?" Narcissa asked, placing her head into her hands with a moan of annoyance.

"You're just lucky, we guess," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

_"You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly._

"Please say you didn't?" Lucius paled, thinking of what could have been done to the boy.

_There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl_.

"Do you have a death wish?" Lucius, Tom and Narcissa growled.

"Yes," Harry deadpanned causing the three adults to look at him,speechless.

_"I'd take you on any time on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"_

"You didn't," Severus and Narcissa hissed at the blonde, who whimpered piteously.

_"Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling round, "I'm his second, who's yours?"_

_Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up._

_"Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."_

"And how did you know that?" Severus asked his godson evenly.

Draco just blushed and looked away from the inquiring looks.

_When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other._

_"What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"_

Draco opened his mouth to say something without thinking again, but Harry saved him from his foot-in-mouth disease.

"Raised by Muggles, Princess," Harry smirked.

"Princess?" Draco squeaked.

"You're not as much of a drama-queen as you used to be," Harry smirked in answer, watching as his sparring partner blushed brightly.

_"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie._

"Ewww, cold pie!" Hermione squealed.

_Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "but people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards._

"You ARE a real wizard you twit! Why do you think you are in a wizard's school if you are not a real wizard!" Lucius shouted at the book, forgetting that the red-headed idiot was not in the room with them.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Luna said scathingly.

_The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other._

"That's what he thinks!" Harry mock-sang, making Hermione and Neville chuckle softly and shake their heads.

_Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."_

_"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"_

"I was going to do that anyway," Harry confided to everyone with a chuckle.

"Why?" Pansy asked with her nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Because I wanted to see Ron go up against Crabbe. I thought that it would be the funniest thing I had ever seen," he admitted with a slight smile.

"Oh, you do have a mean streak," Draco purred coyly

"Oh, you ain't seen nothin' yet Sweetheart," Harry purred hotly.

"Moving on," Lucius cut in before anything could happen between the two boys that would have made everyone in the room either uncomfortable or jealous.

_"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Ron suggested._

_"Excuse me."_

_They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger._

"No! Not again!" Hermione wailed.

_"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron._

_Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry. "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying –"_

_"Bet you could," Ron muttered._

_" – and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."_

"I think I'm in agreement with the Weasel on this one," Draco said to Pansy and Blaise, looking disgusted with himself at the very thought of it.

"No, no, no, No, No, NO!" Hermione screamed, curling up.

"One … Two … Three … Four …" Harry counted softly so no one could hear him but everyone could guess what he was doing.

"NO, NO, NO, NO!" Hermione continued almost hysterically.

"Hermione! SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I SILENCE YOU MYSELF!" Hermione shut up and blinked at Harry in shock as he loomed over her, having propelled himself out of his bed. "Now stay like that! If you start dong that again, I will silence you then get someone else to read for you before putting you to bed! Do I make myself clear!" he stated in a dangerously calm voice.

Hermione nodded and slowly uncurled herself, unable to look anyone in the eye after her dressing down.

"Good!" he stalked out of the room hissing under his breath about females and fucking red-heads.

"He's scary when he loses his temper," Tom said quietly, looking after the teen, too shocked to move. Everyone in the room nodded silently, either looking in the same direction Harry left in or watching Hermione.

"I don't understand something," Narcissa admitted after moving so she could haver Hermione lay down with her head in Narcissa's lap and Narcissa running her fingers through Hermione's hair. "Hermione and Harry seem to be very close, but they are putting each other through this. Why is that?"

Luna and Neville exchanged looks before Neville indicated for Luna to proceed in telling everyone the reason.

"They are very close. They are that close that when they did the familial bonding the bond joined them so they were more like twins than just siblings." Luna sighed. "None of the stuff that is happening right now would have happened had that not happened."

"They have been bonded that closely that they share emotions. Not only that, they also seem to feed off the other's emotions at the same time," Neville continued.

"It gets to the point where when Harry gets hyperactive to the point of obsessiveness, then so does Hermione. If Hermione is in tears, then so is Harry," Luna cut in.

"Even though Harry has better control over it than Hermione does so he doesn't show what he is going through as much. Harry is feeling crowded, lonely and angry at the moment. Angry at Ronald and Dumbles, crowded due to Hermione's clinginess and lonely because Aldron is the only one who seems to understand what he is going through at times," Neville said with a sad smile at Hermione, who ignored him, knowing that she had pushed Harry way too far this time.

"Hermione is feeling used, lonely and unsafe whenever Harry isn't around. Used because of what that mongrel did to her, lonely because her parents don't want to know her and unsafe because she knows that no matter what, Harry will protect her from anything that is trying to harm her," Luna said with a sad look in the directiong that Harry had disappeared into.

"Hence, Harry is receiving the used, lonely and unsafe feelings from Hermione, while Hermione is receiving the feelings of crowded, loneliness and anger from Harry," Neville stated, feeling as though he wasn't doing enough to make them understand what was happening.

"And then they are getting their original emotions back from each other, but slightly amplified," Luna cut back in with a slight smile at her partner, understanding and agreeing with his thoughts.

"And it will continue going like that until one or both of them, gets away to work it off and gets happy again," Neville finished.

"Happy emotions normally over run the bad. It is only really bad when both of them are on the receiving end of negative emotions, like now," Luna clarified, rolling her eyes at a blushing Neville for forgetting this section.

"This is interesting and all, but shouldn't someone go get him so we can continue reading?" Severus asked.

"Yes please, before Severus here decides to write a paper on it. I can see his fingers twitching already!" Lucius teased his friend.

Neville chuckled and walked off to find Harry.

Five minutes later:

"I CAN WALK YOU KNOW! I HAVE TWO ARMS, TWO LEGS AND A HEARTBEAT!" Harry yelled.

"I'm sure you can, but you wouldn't, so you have to put up with this," Neville responded calmly.

"PUT ME DOWN YOU SNIDGET!" Harry boomed, making everyone fidget slightly.

Neville walked into the room with Harry thrown over one of his shoulders, struggling to get down. Everyone except for Hermione laughed softly at the sight. Neville put him onto the bed that he was supposed to stay in and looked down at him with folded arms. "Now you will stay there, or I will get Luna to drain you before hitting you with a sleeping potion so you remain abed until it is time for us to leave," he said seriously.

Harry pouted.

_"And it's really none of your business," said Harry._

_"Goodbye," said Ron._

_All the same, it wasn't what you'd call the perfect end to the day, Harry thought, as he lay awake much later listening to Dean and Seamus falling asleep (Neville wasn't back from the hospital wing). Ron had spent all evening giving him advice such as 'If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them."_

"No surprise there," Severus sneered.

_There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs Norris, and Harry felt he was pushing his luck, breaking another school rule today._

"Actually, it was only the first rule I had broken that day. Hooch had no right to say that she would kick us out if we so much as touched a broom because the students who had never been on a broom before wouldn't have hoped on and the ones that had would have already been taught the basics by their parents," Harry said slightly sleepily from his bed

_On the other hand, Malfoy's sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness –_

"Aww, how sweet! Puppy Love," Luna cooed, making Draco hide his face n his hands and Harry to yawn.

_This was his big chance to beat Malfoy face to face. He couldn't miss it._

"Did you know that Dumbles manipulated you," Harry mumbled softly to Draco.

"Huh?" everyone in the room asked inelegantly.

"Dumbles needed me to discover something and so he used you to get me to where he wanted me to be," Harry explained, blinking rapidly to try wake himself up.

_"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, "we'd better go."_

_The pulled on their dressing-gowns, picked up their wands and crept across the tower room, down the spiral staircase and into the Gryffindor common-room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them: "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."_

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but when Harry glared at her she closed it again, looking away from the room and burying her face into Narcissa's skirt.

_A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Ganger, wearing a pink dressing-gown and a frown._

_"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"_

_"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy – he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."_

_Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering._

"Neither can I. You really did need to loosen up, my dear. I'm very happy to see that you have done so. Please try to not go back to that," Narcissa said softly to the girl who's hair she was playing with.

_"Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole._

_Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait door, hissing at them like an angry goose._

_"Don't you care about Gryffindor,_

"No, I don't. All I cared about as getting the duel over with so I could see Aldron," Harry stated in a matter-of-fact way.

"But you didn't go anywhere that night," Neville said confused.

"Haven't you ever heard of a golem?" Harry snapped.

_Do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."_

"Wow, and I thought I hated you," Draco said in shock.

"She didn't hate me – she just thought that I should put out for everyone in a position of authority," Harry said bitchily, making Hermione blush with shame.

_"Go away."_

_"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so-"_

_But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a night-time visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower._

_"Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly._

_"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."_

_They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them._

_"I'm coming with you," she said._

"Could you have been any more annoying?" Blaise asked with a groan.

"Yes," Harry spat, not looking at her.

_"You are not."_

_"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you and you can back me up."_

"As if that was ever going to work," Draco said with a weak chuckle.

"I know that … now. I was a horrid person," Hermione wept softly.

"No you weren't," Harry sighed, thawing towards her with a relaxing of his shoulders. "You were just … confused."

_"You've got some nerve-" said Ron loudly._

_"Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. "I heard something."_

"You could hear over that racket?" Lucius asked, impressed.

"You mean you can't?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, raising the other when everyone in the room shook their head in the negative.

_It was a sort of snuffling._

_"Mrs Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark._

_It wasn't Mrs Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked awake as they crept nearer._

_"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours. I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."_

_"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."_

_"How's your arm?" said Harry._

_"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfry mended it in about a minute."_

"So why didn't you go anywhere after she had healed it?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah, where were you?" Blaise asked.

"My Gran had been contacted. You know how boring it is hearing that you are a failure at everything you do?" Neville asked with a grim smile.

"Yeah, I do," Harry said, also looking grim.

_"Good – well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later –"_

_"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."_

_Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville._

_"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learnt that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about and used it on you."_

_Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward._

"Even when they hated each other, they still listened to you. That is impressive," Severus stated, looking at Harry as though he had never really seen the boy before. Now that he has heard about this, he now had realised that he had never seen the boy until now.

"The secret is to not give them a choice," Harry said with a small yawn.

"That's understandable," Tom nodded thoughtfully.

_They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn, Harry expected to run into Filch or Mrs Norris, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed towards the trophy room._

_Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet._

"We weren't going to turn up," Draco admitted, shamefaced.

"No shit Sherlock," Harry and Hermione sneered at him.

_The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates and statues winked silver and gold I the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once. The minutes crept by._

Draco pouted as Pansy laughed. "You didn't know Draco that well, did you?" she giggled.

"I just assumed that because he was the one to offer the challenge that he would be there, but that he would take do the smart thing and try to get me out before I even saw him there," Harry shrugged. "That's what I would have done had I been put in Slytherin, but I guess that was too much of a Ravenclaw trait."

Lucius, Narcissa, Draco, Blaise and Pansy looked at him with wide eyes while Tom and Severus almost chocked on their laughter.

_"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered._

_Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak – and it wasn't Malfoy._

_"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."_

_It was Filch speaking to Mrs Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at the other three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently towards the door away from Filch's voice. Neville's roves had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room._

_"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."_

_"This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and , petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run – he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armour._

"That was perfect Nev!" Harry chuckled.

"Thank you," Neville smirked.

"He had the bruises for nearly two weeks! It was beautiful!" Harry cackled.

_The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle._

_"RUN!" Harry yelled and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following- they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead without any idea where they were or where they were going – they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room._

_"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering._

_"I – told – you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I – told – you."_

_"We've got to get back to Gryffindor Tower," said Ron, "Quickly as possible."_

_"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realise that, don't you?_

"He'd have to be the offspring of people as intelligent as Crabbe and Goyle are pretending to be for him NOT to have known that, Miss Granger," Severus rolled his eyes.

Hermione scowled and looked down at the book.

_He was never going to meet you – Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."_

"NO offence, Hermione, but no wonder you had no friends," Narcissa said with a soft sigh.

Hermione glared at the book and pouted.

_Harry thought she was probably right, but he wasn't going to tell her that._

"I didn't need too, she already knew that she was right, that I knew she was right and that she is nearly always right," Harry chuckled.

Hermione, Severus, Lucius, Draco, Pansy and Blaise looked at Harry in various levels of amusement. "Almost always?"

"I'll say one thing and one thing only, Luv. End of third year," Harry said with a sideways smirk.

Hermione blushed so brightly she glowed.

"I did it again! Damn I'm good!" Harry giggled, bouncing softly on the bed while Hermione, Neville and Luna laugh at him.

_"Let's go."_

_It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them._

_It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight._

_"Shut up, Peeves – please – you'll get us thrown out."_

_Peeves cackled._

_"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."_

Harry and Luna exchanged looks and giggled slightly.

"Did he just giggle?" Draco asked, looking at Neville with a small amount of fear in his eyes.

"It's starting again," Neville said in response, rubbing his temples.

"What's starting?" Tom asked.

"You'll see," Neville said ominously.

_"Not I you don't give us away, Peeves, please."_

_"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."_

_"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves – this was a big mistake._

"He is such an idiot. Anyone with eyes could tell you that all you had to do was say that Filch was having a hard time trying to get you and you were irritating him by being one step ahead of him and he would have left to make a distraction so you could get back there unhurried," Luna said with a scowl.

"Well, the head scan did give him a brain the size of a flea, so what do you expect," Harry shrugged. "It isn't like Peeves took it out on us, anyway – just him."

"Praise Merlin for small miracles," Hermione and Neville yelled.

"And WWW products," Harry grinned.

_"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"_

_Ducking under Peeves they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door – and it was locked._

"No … no it couldn't be," Severus whispered, eyes flicking from Hermione to Harry and back again.

"You bet your sweet arse it was!" Harry said with a sardonic grin.

_"This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"_

"Melodramatic much?" Lucius asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The King of melodramatics saying that someone is melodramatic. Oh that is rich!" Harry laughed uncontrollably.

"So I'm not the only one that has that word attached to Lucius Malfoy's name?" Tom asked with a laugh.

"NO!" Hermione, Luna, Neville and Harry yelled with large grins on their faces. Lucius flushed and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

_They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could towards Peeves' shouts._

_"Oh move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock and whispered, "Alohomora!"_

_The lock clicked and the door swung open – they piled through it, shut it quickly and pressed their ears against it, listening._

_"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me."_

_"Say 'please'."_

_"Don't mess me about, Peeves, now where did they go?"_

_"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying sing-song voice._

_"all right – please."_

_"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage._

Harry laughed so much and so hard that he fell out of the bed and onto the floor, still laughing.

Luna and Hermione started to giggle continually and softly.

"Get yourself calmed down, Harry. You're going to give me a headache with all this joy and happiness you are giving off. Did you do a cheering spell on yourself while I wasn't looking?" Neville said with a grin on his face, rubbing his head as though he did have a headache.

"I can't calm down Nev. One of the potions you gave me was made with Al's blood and it just kicked in," Harry giggled.

"Now I've done it. I've created our worst nightmare," Neville said with a laugh, but his eyes were slightly fear filled.

"And what's that?" Severus asked, watching the four laughing teens before him with worry.

"A hyperactive Harry," Hermione, Luna and Neville laughed as they tried to pick Harry up off the floor, only to drop him due to laughing too much.

"He gets worse than this?" Tom asked with wide eyes.

"This is only the beginning," Luna giggled.

_"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be OK – get off, Neville! For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's dressing-gown for the last minute. "What?"_

_Harry turned around – and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare – this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far._

_They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden._

"You actually went into the corridor?" Blaise, Draco and Pansy asked with their jaws almost on the floor.

"Yep! But not on purpose," Harry, Hermione and Neville said with large grins on their faces.

"You are a trouble magnet, aren't you, Harry?" Severus asked with a shake of his head.

"Yes! One of the super strength ones," Harry said, beaming and nodding his head as fast as he could.

"You can say that again," Tom mumbled, watching the four teens in horror.

"Yes! One of the super strength ones," Harry giggled before grinning cheekily at Tom who glared at him softly only to get a kiss blown at him. "You still love me!" Harry said with a cheeky grin at the Dark Lord.

_They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog which filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering inn their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs._

_It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant._

Lucius, Narcissa, Draco, Blaise and Pansy yelled, "WHAT!"

"Sounds like a cerebus," Luna sighed dreamily as she drew a giggling Harry into a dance that consisted of spinning around in one spot in increasing speeds.

"That's because it is a cerebus," Severus and Tom chorused, going slightly green as they watched the blonde haired girl.

"Well, that explains it then, doesn't it?" she said with a smile.

_Harry groped for the doorknob – between Filch and death, he'd take Filch._

"See, I do have self preservation … sometimes I even use it," Harry said, poking out his tongue as he fell onto his bed after Luna let him go.

"You only used it because you didn't want us to see how damaged you really were," Neville said with a non-humorous smirk.

"That's true enough. I would have stayed if you three were not with me," Harry said, calming slightly.

"If you had been alone, then the damn thing would have become a happy-to-please puppy!" Hermione growled.

"That's true," Harry pouted before visibly perking up. "Time for chocolate?"

"NO!" Hermione, Luna and Neville yelled.

"But I want chocolate," Harry whined, pouting with Draco and Tom.

"Too bad! You need to eat dinner first," Neville said sternly, the threat of Harry with chocolate enough to sober him, Hermione and Luna from Harry's blood rush.

"If you are good and eat EVERYTHING on your plate, then I'll see about getting the house-elves to make you a chocolate pie," Hermione said, relenting slightly at the look of devastation in Harry's eyes.

Harry, Draco and Tom beamed at the girl and bounced in their seat of bed.

"My Lord? You are starting to scare us," Lucius and Severus said.

"That's good, I am naturally scary," Tom said with a nod.

"OH GOD NO!" Neville and Hermione exclaimed in horror as Luna froze in her spot.

"What?" Lucius said, looking around for the problem.

"Harry's learnt how to manipulate Tom's emotions through the bond," Hermione continued, her voice holding the same amount of horror as Luna's face.

"That can not be a good thing," Narcissa said, paling.

"I think things just got a little more interesting in here," Luna said in shock.

_They fell backwards – Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared – all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor._

_"Where on earth have you been?" she asked, looking at their dressing-gowns hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces._

"She always asks that, but what do you expect from a gossip hound," Neville said with a roll of his eyes.

"We are the only students who tell her where we have been and what we were doing," Harry said with a bemused smile.

"And she doesn't tell anyone about what we say," Hermione added with a proud smile.

"And all because I once told her about one of my escapades with Aldron. Who would have guessed that she was a slash fan," Harry said with a rising level of hyperactivity.

"A what?" Severus, Tom and Lucius chorused.

"I tell her stories about men getting hot and heavy and she could see me AK the entire Gryffindor population and she'd say 1) she didn't see anything or 2) she'd indicate that it was someone – or something- else entirely," Harry smirked.

"How do you get these things so wrapped around your finger?" Tom whined.

"I have my ways," Harry said mysteriously before giggling softly to himself.

_"Never mind that – pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common-room and collapsed, trembling into armchairs._

_It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again._

"I believe that I would have rather spent all week with Professor Snape then be in the same room as a dog … I hate dogs with a passion," Neville shuddered.

"A-a-a-and y-you're an-animagus f-form i-i-i-is a d-d-Dalmatian!" Harry, Luna and Hermione laugh, tears rolling down their cheeks starting Tom off laughing as well.

"At least when I'm a Dalmatian I don't run the risk of getting attacked by another dog," Neville huffed, crossing his arms as though he was insulted.

"At least not unless the dog doesn't like you being on its turf," Harry chocked out before laughing again. Neville growled at the group of three before casting a sobering charm on Hermione and Luna, knowing that they wouldn't work on Harry at the moment.

_"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."_

"Why did you become friends with him again?" Lucius asked as everyone rolled their eyes.

"Because he was a necessary evil," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

"Oh ... Do you understand that?" he whispered to Severus.

"No, not a word," Severus whispered back, putting his head closer to Lucius' ear so he could hear him.

"Oh look Harry, the Nargals want to see the Professor and Mr. Malfoy kiss," Luna announced.

Harry started to laugh and pointed to above the heads of the two confused men. Everyone else looked up at where the teen was pointing and laugh as the two men paled dramatically at the sight of the magical mistletoe that was above their heads.

Harry, Narcissa, Tom, Hermione, Luna and Neville started to chant. "KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS."

Lucius and Severus kiss and go pale green, making Harry giggle as he magically removed the plant.

"And why didn't you do that earlier!" Severus growled at the teen.

"Because Elise didn't want me to, so NER!" Harry giggled, poking his tongue out at the man just as a box of chocolate appears before Harry. "And this is my reward," he said happily as he bit into a chocolate, squirting a red liquid everywhere. "Mmmmm, Cherry Liqueur."

"We'll never win. Elise always gives into him," Hermione, Luna and Neville sigh, shaking their heads in resignation.

Elise chimed angrily in response to that, making the three of them lower their heads and blush. "Oops, sorry Elise. Sorry Harry."

"You should have told us that you were starting to get the shakes, Harry," Neville said, scolding him slightly.

"Why? You'd just make me take that horrid stuff. At least Elise makes it into a form I can stomach without losing it," Harry responded after swallowing his mouthful.

"You were just told!" Blaise and Pansy chuckled.

_Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"_

_"The floor?" Harry suggested._

"Oh SNAP!" Draco laughed, beaming with Harry joined him in his laughter and Hermione pouted.

_"I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."_

_"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."_

"If only I didn't open my mouth," Hermione groaned.

"But you did, Hun. Get over it," Harry said firmly.

"HARRY JAMES …" Hermione started before stopping at the look on Harry's face.

"Do NOT get hormonal with me again Hermione. I can't handle it at the moment. If you must get violent, take it out on the bastard that did it to you, not me. I'm NOT your verbal punching bag," Harry growled dangerously.

"Why do females never listen?" Lucius sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

She stood up, glaring at them.

I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Ron stared after her, his mouth open. "No, we don't mind," he said." You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

"You really were a self-righteous bitch, weren't you?" Pansy said in astonishment, looking in Hermione's direction.

"Yes, she was – and don't look at me like that Hermione, you know it is true," Neville stated, raising an eyebrow at the glare that Hermione was giving him.

_But Hermione had given Harry something else to think about as he climbed back into bed. The dog was guarding something ... What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide – except perhaps Hogwarts._

_It looked as though Harry had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was._

"Do you know how infuriating it is that he can put things together like that?" Tom asked conversationally.

"Yes," everyone chorused.

"And do you think I really care that it infuriates you?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"No," everyone uttered with varying degrees of humour.

"Good, because I don't," Harry said with a large grin.

Harry stretched and licked his fingers clean of the melted chocolate that had coated them. "Does anyone have the time?" he yawned, blinking sleepily.

Neville chuckled. "We are going to eat first, then you can go to sleep Harry.

Harry nodded and a loud pop was heard when a house-elf appeared with eleven plates of steak, potatoes in their jackets and vegetables. With a quieter pop, it disappeared.

Silence was heard as everyone started to eat – all but Harry, who was glaring at the innocent piece of meat before him as if it had been the cause of all the misery in his life.

Neville chuckled. "Just because a house-elf cooked it doesn't mean that it has been poisoned."

Harry looked up at him. "It's not that Neville," he whispered, blushing.

Luna got an understanding look on her face. "It's the fact that they overcooked it, isn't it Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Can one of you ask for a piece of rare ... no ... raw steak? No fat and with flavoured olive oil. I need something with blood in it."

Everyone shuddered as a piece of raw steak appeared on Harry's plate and he started to eat it with obvious delight. They watched in horrified amusement as everything on his plate disappeared before he laid back. "What's for desert?" he asked innocently before blinking.

"Elise!" he growled, realising that she had snuck him a few potions via the chocolates. Before he could do or say anything else, an individual chocolate pie appeared beside his now empty plate and his eyes sparkled with excitement.

By the time that everyone else had finished their meal and dessert, Harry was curled up on the bed fast asleep with a slightly contented smile on his lips.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Harry blinked his eyes sleepily and leaned into the hand that was running through his hair.

"You awake now Sweetie?" Hermione asked him.

He nodded. "How long?"

"Nearly two days. It's been quiet without you and I've done some thinking. I trust you fully, and I realise that I've been abusing that trust. I know that you will come back to me if you go and I am trying to work through it, but it is slow going."

"I know Hun," he yawned. "Do you trust everyone in here?"

"Yes, surprisingly I do. I know that I should be uncomfortable with them around, but they make me feel safe. Not as safe as when I'm with you, but safe all the same." She resumed running her fingers through Harry's hair, neither of them noticing the blonde man standing just outside the doorway. "I spoke with Lady Malfoy – um … Narcissa. She said that because you are not only my family, but the head of the family, you can do anything to Ron – within reason – after calling a vendetta on him. Vendetta's only become legal if the recipient of the vendetta actually committed the crime and it will show as a joining of yours and his magic's with magic announcing it to the family of all those involved. If you still feel that it is required after finishing our time in here, I will not try to talk you out of doing it. Pansy and Narcissa spent all day yesterday explaining to me about the need of the head of house to protect those in his family. I'm sorry I've been trying to stop you from doing what your magic is telling you to do."

Harry smiled and pulled Hermione onto the bed with him, cuddling her close as she sobbed softly. "All is forgiven, 'Mione. It's done and dusted. No more a part of my memory." He yawned again before blinking softly. "I'm still sleepy. Let's go for a bit of a nap."

Lucius chuckled softly as he walked away from the make-shift hospital. He had stayed until the two of them had fallen asleep again and now he was going to go report the conversation to those waiting.

2 hours later:

Hermione and Harry walked into the sitting room and sat on a lounge, both sucking on a blood pop.

"You're awake!" Blaise yelped, causing everyone in the room to laugh. "When did you wake up?"

"Just now," Hermione stretched, smothering a yawn. "And I think I speak for both of us when I say that we both feel more human after a sleep."

Neville grinned. "Maybe I should make it a requirement that the two of you have a nap every day then," he teased.

"Only if you'll be our teddy bear," Harry countered, shocking laughs out of the three Slytherin students.

Neville just laughed and waved the book at them. "Luna decided that she would make something for you to eat Harry. It's her recipe for chicken and vegetable soup. She's made enough for an army of Ronald's, so eat all you want. When she gets in with the bowl, we'll start."

Harry nodded, blinking in surprise when a large mixing bowl full of soup, a large loaf of bread and a container of butter appeared before him. "I want you to eat at least half," Luna's dreamy voice said from behind him. "Hermione will help you." She shoved a spoon into his hand and one into Hermione's, then snuggled into Neville's side.

Laughing, Neville opened the book.

_Chapter 10 – Hallowe'en_

"Oh yay!" Harry bounced in his seat while nibbling a slice of bread soaked in soup.

"Yay? Something always happens to you on Hallowe'en," Neville stated in amusement at the child-like behaviour.

"Yeah, isn't it great? No boring old trick-or-treating for me!" Harry said, still boucing, making everyone either chuckle or shake their heads.

_Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful._

Everyone glared at Draco who blushed and lowered his head.

"You wanna have some soup?" Harry asked him innocently through a mouthful of chicken and vegetables. "It's guaranteed to make anything not seem so bad." He offered Draco a soggy piece of bread from the bowl.

"I think I'll pass right now Harry. Thank you for offering," Draco responded politely, trying to keep his face straight as Severus shuddered in restrained laughter beside him.

_Indeed, by next morning Harry and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure and they were quite keen to have another one._

Hermione, Luna and Neville quickly covered their ears as they watched Harry swell indignantly.

"I DID NOT AND I WAS NOT!" he shouted. "All I wanted to do was get through classes and be a regular person." Harry pouted. "My life never goes the way I want it to." Everyone blinked at him as his bottom lip wobbled slightly. Draco and Hermione quickly hand Harry a chocolate, miking him smile sweetly at the two of them. "Fank oo. I wike chocowate."

Narcissa couldn't help but coo at the cuteness of it all.

_In the meantime, Harry filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection._

_"It's either really valuable or really dangerous," said Ron._

_"Or both," said Harry._

_But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues._

"Can I go do something else? I'm bored, tired and sick of first year," Harry pouted, half of one of the chocolates left in his hand.

"Are you sure that he isn't the pregnant one?" Blaise half-joked.

"No, I need to ride someone to get that way and I haven't had the chance to do so in several months," Harry said bluntly.

"Way too much information there," Tom said, his face going a very pale green.

_Neither Neville or Hermione showed the slightest interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again._

"I don't see why, he sounds adorable!" Pansy cooed.

"I'll introduce you to him sometime," Harry said, cheering up a little.

"Thanks!" Pansy gushed.

"Not again, Pansy! Didn't the Sphinx when you were five teach you anything?" Blaise groaned.

"Yes, it taught me to never chew on an animal's tail," she said with a grin before turning to Harry and continuing in a chatty voice, "They take offense at it you see." Blaise could do nothing but let his face fall into his hands with a long, loud groan.

_Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus._

"I bet that you did," Tom said.

Hermione blushed as Harry wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a slice of bread.

"Do you think bread can solve anything?" Hermione asked with a wet laugh.

"When eating soup, yes," Harry said before taking another mouthful. "Yummy!"

Draco, Narcissa, Tom and Pansy snigger softly at the pair.

_All they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived with the post about a week later._

_As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harry was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor._

"How often do you manage to eat a full meal?" Narcissa asked with a slight frown.

"Define 'full'," Hermione, Luna and Neville stated.

Narcissa just raised an eyebrow at them and looked back at Harry.

"Normally only when I am calm like I am today. Otherwise I can't eat much," Harry said quietly, sucking on another piece of soggy bread.

_They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel._

_Harry ripped open the letter first,_

"Who in the world opens the letter first?" Draco asked, puzzled.

"People who aren't spoilt brats," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville grinned as Draco blushed once more.

Severus, Lucius and Narcissa laugh at their son/godson.

_Which was lucky, because it said:_

_DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE._

_It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand,_

_But I don't want everybody knowing you've_

_Got a broomstick or they'll all want one._

_Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the_

_Quidditch pitch at seven o'clock for your_

_First training session._

_Professor M. McGonagall_

"She paid for it out of her own account," Harry said softly.

"What?" Severus asked with a frown.

"She wanted to make it up to me for allowing the headmaster to leave me at that place, and she felt a touch bad for making me need to work so hard as punishment," Harry clarified.

_Harry had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Ron to read._

"Oh the glee of rubbing good fortune into the face of those too low to perceive it," Luna said with a dreamy sigh.

_"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."_

"And if I have my way, he never will again!" Harry growled.

_They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first lesson, but half-way across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle._

Tom, Severus, Lucius and Narcissa glared at Draco. "Look! I'm sorry for being a jealous spoilt brat, okay?" he yelled, flinging his arms into the air.

"And?" Neville prompted.

"And I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you," Draco promised, a pleading note in his voice.

"I'm sure we can think of something," Harry and Luna said, exchanging smirks.

"Draco … Run!" Pansy, Blaise and Severus said fearfully, causing Draco to gulp.

_Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it._

_"That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them."_

"And this coming from the boy who thought he could bully his father into allowing him to bring his broom," Harry laughed.

"We'd forgotten about that," Lucius and Narcissa chuckled, watching their son get playfully tormented by a child-like Harry.

_Ron couldn't resist it._

"Of course he couldn't," Hermione rolled her eyes.

_"It's not any old broomstick," he said, "It's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got a home, Malfoy, a comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned at Harry. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."_

"Big mouthed coot," Harry scowled.

_"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."_

"Draco! That was low!" Pansy scolded, even though she secretly thought the same.

"Yeah, it was. If you had left the twins, Bill and Charlie out of it then it would have just been a statement of the truth," Harry put forward.

"Why Bill and Charlie too. They are on Ron's side," Hermione asked with a slight pout.

"Because at this stage both of them and the twins were the only four that could buy a broomstick if they wanted to. Bill isn't that interested in flying on a broomstick. Charlie had his heart set on dragons and the twins were saving up for their shop and whatever was left went towards experimentation," Harry explained gently.

"Ok, I understand," Hermione said, nodding thoughtfully.

_Before Ron could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow._

"Ron had no comeback so he was very glad to see Flitwick," Harry smirked, pulling Hermione slightly closer to him as he pushed the bowl of soup away from the two of them, rolling his eyes when Luna poured the broth into a mug with a charm on it to keep it at perfect drinking temperature.

_"Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he squeaked._

_"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly._

_"Yes, yes, that's right," Said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"_

_"A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir," said Harry, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it," he added._

Narcissa glared at Harry in a way only a mother protecting her child could manage.

"Hey! It was the only way I could think of to thank Draco without making Ron think I was under a dark curse. Can you imagine what would have shown had I been subjected to a dark curse finder?" Harry protested with a shudder at the thought.

"You were thanking me? Why?" Draco asked.

"I only felt freedom when I was with Aldron. With you guiding me to the sky, I found my freedom for when I couldn't depend on him," Harry said shyly, looking away from the blonde.

"So that's why you started to hiss at everyone when they bad mouthed him. Soon the only one who was stupid enough to bad mouth Draco was Ron!" Hermione stated, eyes lighting up with understanding.

"So that's why we only ever had run-ins with you, Ron and Hermione," Pansy muttered.

"And don't forget Neville," Blaise added.

"Now don't I feel special," Neville responded dryly.

Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Harry Hermione and Luna chorused, "So you should." Neville blinked at them in shock.

_Harry and Ron headed upstairs smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion._

_"Well, it's true," Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team …"_

"I hated having to say that. I would have loved to have been your friend – until you opened your mouth," Harry said with a regretful sigh.

"You would have been my friend had I not been a total arse?" Draco asked.

"Of course. Not only were you pretty, but you smelt nice and you spoke to me before you knew who I was," Harry said.

_"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them._

Hermione burst into tears, making Harry pull her more solidly until she was in his lap. "That is not you, Hermione. You were scared and lonely and still thinking like a muggle," he crooned.

"I c-c-can't s-stop c-cry-ying," Hermione hiccupped, still sobbing.

"Okay Sweetie, you just cry yourself out … Want me to join you?" Harry asked, lovingly.

"No Harry, It's fine," Hermione smiled wetly.

Harry wobbled his bottom lip and forced tears into his eyes. "You don't want me to keep you company?"

"You are strange, Harry Potter," Hermione giggled wetly, her tears slowing down until they were no longer falling.

"And proud of it!" Harry smiled.

_Hermione was stomping up the stairs looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand._

_"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry._

_"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."_

_Hermione marched away with her nose in the air._

_Harry had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons that day. It kept wandering up to the dormitory where his new broomstick was lying under his bed, or straying off to the Quidditch pitch where he'd be learning to play that night. He bolted his dinner that evening without noticing what he was eating._

"That was the first time I saw you eat that much at once," Neville said with a laugh.

"And kept you awake all night throwing up," Harry smiled sadly.

"That's what friends are for, Sweetness," Neville shrugged.

"And I have the best friends ever!" Harry squealed.

"I agree with what Mr. Zabini said earlier. Are we sure he isn't pregnant?" Severus asked softly, making Narcissa giggle at him.

_And then rushed upstairs with Ron to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand at last._

"You hadn't even unwrapped it?" Draco, Blaise and Pansy asked, incredulously.

"No. I wasn't going to be using it, so why bother?" Harry asked, confused.

"Who are you and what have you done with Potter?" Severus asked, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"I am Lord Harry James Potter-Black, sole survivor of the Potter line and the Potter you are talking about was par-boiled, coated in honey, soy, garlic and pepper before being slow-roasted to perfection and served with roast vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and mushroom gravy," Harry grinned before tilting his head to the left. "Actually, I wonder if I can convince the house-elves into getting me a side of beef and roast it slowly over charcoal for tomorrow …"

"… Um …" Severus cleared his throat nervously.

"He's off in lala land again. It is the first time he gave that answer though. He normally doesn't imagine cooking himself," Hermione giggled.

"No, he normally just says that a giant bat flew off with him before eating him with blood pops and melted chocolate. I think Al did that once, but I'm not sure why," Luna also giggled.

"Because he is a kinky bugger who I can't wait to see again – particularly when he gets angry," Harry said, shivering in delight with a faraway look in his eye.

"I give up!" Severus groaned into his hands.

"Remember he has been feeding a babe his magic," Tom and Lucius scolded Severus slightly.

"Yeah ... right," Severus responded, looking between the two of them suspiciously.

_"Wow," Ron sighed, as the broomstick rolled on to Harry's bedspread._

_Even Harry, who knew nothing about the different brooms, thought it looked wonderful. Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat, strait twigs and Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top._

"It was beautiful. I still have the pieces. It made a wonderful photo frame for that photo of me, Sirius and Remus," Harry said with a sad smile before curling up around Hermione and sighing "I miss Siri."

"I know, Sweetie, I know," Hermione cooed, running her finger softly through his hair, making him almost purr.

_As seven o'clock dew nearer, Harry left the castle and set off towards the Quidditch pitch in the dusk. He'd never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the pitch so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the pitch were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Harry of the little plastic sticks Muggle children blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty feet high._

"Oh I used to love those!" Hermione squealed softly so as to not hurt Harry's ears.

_Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Harry mounted his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling – he swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the pitch. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever he wanted at his lightest touch._

"It was soooo much easier to use then the school brooms," Harry announced with a small yawn.

_"Hey, Potter, come down!"_

_Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden create under his arm. Harry landed next to him._

_"Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what McGonagall meant … you really are a natural._

"You must get so sick of hearing that!" Pansy teased.

"You have NO idea," Harry groaned.

_I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practise three times a week."_

_He opened the create. Inside were four different-sized balls._

_"Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers."_

"Do we have to go through this?" Severus groaned.

"Shh. You might lean something," Tom shushed.

Severus glared at the man, knowing that Tom hated the game more than he himself did.

_"Three Chasers," Harry repeated, as Wood took out a bright-red ball about the size of a football._

_"This ball's called the Quaffle," said Wood. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through on of the hoops. Follow me?"_

_"The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Harry recited. "So – that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?"_

Everyone, except Hermione who looked at him in exasperation, shot Harry quizzical looks. "Nevermind," he muttered.

_"What's basketball?" said Wood curiously._

_"Never mind," said Harry quickly._

_"Now, there's another player on each side who's call the Keeper – I'm Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring._

"Really? I thought that it meant that we weren't supposed to let him go," Harry said sarcastically.

"Yeah, he was a Keeper, wasn't he?" Neville said with a smirk.

"Stop with the cheesy jokes!" Draco, Blaise and Pansy groaned.

"They're worse when they're drunk," Hermione supplemented.

"No, that is when everyone runs for cover," Luna corrected.

"Ohhh! Do tell!" Tom grinned, fidgeting slightly.

"Me + Alcohol = one hell of a good night … If you aren't the one who gets in my way," Harry grinned.

_"Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with the Quaffle. Ok, got that. So what are they for?" He pointed at the three balls left inside the box._

_"I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this."_

_He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a rounders bat._

_"I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do,"_

"Just watch Dudley for an hour!" Harry snorted.

"I can do something about that if you wish me to," Lucius said with a smirk.

"No thanks. I happen to know how to make him dance in the most delightful of ways," Harry smirked. "It all depends on where the stinging hex hits, of course. The bottoms of the feet are a delightful way of beginning."

Lucius just shook his head with a small smile on his lips.

_Wood said. "These two are the Bludgers."_

_He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box._

_"Stand back," Wood warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers._

_At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face. Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it breaking his nose and sent it zig-zagging away into the air – it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Wood, who dived on top of it and managed to pin it to the ground._

"Ooo, big brave Gryffinor!" Pansy drawled, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I must admit I wasn't complaining about the view," Harry confessed.

_"See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. The Bludgers rocket around trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team – the Weasley twins are ours – it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them towards the other team. So – think you've got all that?"_

_"Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Harry reeled off._

"Why can't you learn like that in class?" Severus asked with a put-out sigh.

"Do you really want me to? It won't freak anyone out?" Harry asked timidly. Severus blinked.

"You'd probably get into trouble for speaking in class," Neville snorted.

"All too true, Hun, all too true," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Mine," Draco growled softly, grabbing hold of Harry.

"Possessive much, Drakie?" Pansy smirked.

"Mine," Draco growled again.

_"Very good," said Wood._

_"Er – have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand._

_"Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that._

"Until you add Lockhart to the mix," Neville laughed.

"Did you have to mention that imbecilic imbecile?" Harry groaned.

"Imbecilic imbecile?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shu'p!" Harry pouted, ignoring Luna who was giggling away beside him.

_Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers-"_

_"-unless they crack my head open."_

"Then we could have proven that I do actually have a brain – no matter how little I appear to use it," Harry said cheerfully.

"How little you appear to use it?" drawled Lucius, very much amused.

"Do you know how much you use your brain to appear less intelligent than a Weaselby?" Harry drawled right back, smirking in answer to Severus' raised eyebrow.

_"Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers – I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves."_

_Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings._

"Never ever allow Harry to play quidditch after eating the nut munchies from the twins. He tries to eat the snitch. Last time he got though half of the damn thing before we even realised it," Neville chuckled, thinking back to the event.

"That's why they now practice with a chocolate snitch," Luna giggled.

"A ... chocolate ... snitch?" Blaise, Pansy and Lucius chorused, their voices squeaking softly.

"YUMMY! Everything tastes better with chocolate," Harry said firmly.

Luna smirked at Neville, whose face was almost glowing. Noticing this, Draco raised his eyebrows in the younger teen's direction, making Neville blush deeper than anyone thought possible.

_"This," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot._

"Why are all the most important balls walnut sized?" Harry asked in confussion.

"You've been watching 'Tomcats' again, haven't you," Hermione asked, humour in her voice. Harry grinned unrepentantly.

_"It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages – I think the record is three months,_

"3 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 20 hours, 53 minutes and 2.35 seconds," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorus. Everyone else in the room shot the four of them strange looks.

_They had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep."_

_"Well, that's it – any questions?"_

_Harry shook his head. He understood what he had to do all right, it was doing it that was going to be the problem._

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" Severus yelped, chocking on his own saliva.

"No, I'm only human. I can get fits of insecurity just as easily as the next person," Harry explained as though to a three year old.

_"We won't practise with the Snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "It's too dark, we might lose it._

"Oliver is always losing things. He once apparated to the pub and left his clothes at home!" Harry and Hermione laughed.

_Let's try you out with a few of these."_

_He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, he and Harry were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch._

_Harry didn't miss a single one, and Wood was delighted. After half an hour, night had really fallen and they couldn't carry on._

_"That Quidditch cup'll have our name on it this year," said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."_

"I don't blame him for running off chasing dragons. Pity that Romania is close enough for Molly to get to him," Harry said scathingly.

"I would have thought that she of all people would have adored having a grandchild to smother," Lucius confessed.

"She doesn't believe that it is Ron's. She doesn't believe that her 'baby boy' would do what he did to me," Hermione said tearfully.

"We'll get him, 'Mione. He doesn't know the true power I have in the palm of my hand and it will be used against him in its entirety," Harry promised, shining with his magical aura around him.

Hermione nodded and snuggled into Harry's chest without much difficulty.

_Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practise three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realised that he'd already been a Hogwarts two months. The castle felt more like home than Privet Drive had ever done._

"Always has, always will," Harry and Tom chorused warmly.

_His lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics._

_On Hallowe'en morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom._

"She didn't mind that actually, so now when we collect her eggs, I levitate her over the container," Neville laughed.

"Really? Do you think it works on all amphibians?" Severus asked in interest.

"I don't know. Maybe you could try it out. I know that it makes collecting the poison easier as well," Neville said thoughtfully.

"Really? How interesting ..." Severus mused thoughtfully.

"Do you think that you could leave this conversation till our break?" Tom asked incredulously. Severus and Neville blush as they suddenly became aware of their amused audience.

_Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practise. Harry 's partner was Seamus Finnigan (which was a relief, because Neville had been trying to catch his eye)_

"Sorry about that Neville," Harry said with a sheepish grin.

"That's fine – you weren't to know that charms would be my second-strongest subject," Neville teased. He burst into laughter when all Harry did was stick out his tongue and blew a raspberry at him.

_Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. She hadn't spoken to either of them since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived._

_"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement_

"Yes boys and girls, it's all in the wrist!" Harry said cheerfully, making Draco chuckle softly.

_We've been practising!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."_

_It was very difficult. Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skywards just lay on the desktop. Seamus got so impatient that he prodded it with his wand and set fire to it – Harry had to put it out with his hat._

"Everyone who works with Seamus needs to know how to deal with explosions and fires," Hermione chuckled. "I think every Gryffindor in our year level knows between 116 and 365 different ways of putting out a fire."

_Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck._

_"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill._

_"You're saying it wrong," Harry heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."_

_"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled._

_Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said "Wingardium Leviosa!"_

_Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads._

Everyone laughed as Hermione sat primly and stated, "Well, he told me to do it!"

_"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"_

_Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of the class. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."_

_Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face – and was startled to see that she was in tears._

_"I think she heard you."_

_"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."_

Everyone who hadn't known about this winced.

"You have no idea how much that hurt," Hermione whispered.

"I can guess sweetie," Harry crooned softly.

_Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all aft4rnoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Hallowe'en feast, Harry and Ron overheard Pavati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' toilets and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Hallowe'en decorations put Hermione out of their minds._

"Gee, thanks Harry," Hermione said dryly.

Harry grinned at her, showing his amusement. "You're welcome!"

Hermione smiled softly and shook her head. Harry would be Harry after all.

_A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start of term banquet._

_Harry was just helping himself to jacket potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chai, slumped against the table and gasped, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know."_

_He then sank to the floor in a dead faint._

"I was wondering at this point at how he managed to get the defence position. Dumbles definitely couldn't have been that desperate to find someone to teach that class," Harry complained.

_There was uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence._

_"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your House back to the dormitories immediately!"_

"He sent the Slytherin student to the dungeons with a troll down there?" Narcissa said coldly.

"Told you he was an old coot. Aren't you glad the Prefect took them to the library?" Harry asked.

"How'd you know that?" Blaise, Pansy and Draco asked.

"Elise," Harry grinned.

_Percy was in his element._

_"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a Prefect!"_

"Oh dear Merlin! Tell me he wasn't that bad! I mean honestly," Severus said, paling in anger.

"I was actually more scared of Percy than the troll. I thought that big-headedness was catching," Neville confessed, laughing.

_"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs._

_"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Ron. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Hallowe'en joke."_

_They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm._

_"I've just thought – Hermione."_

_"What about her?"_

"WHAT ABOUT HER! WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WHAT ABOUT HER' YOU INCEPID CREATURE!" Hermione screeched, leaping out of the lounge and glaring at the book as though it were Ronald Weasley.

"I should have known what he was like after he said that," Harry sneered.

_"She doesn't know about the troll."_

_Ron bit his lip. "Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."_

_Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor and hurried off towards the girls' toilets. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footstep behind them._

_"Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin._

_Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy by Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view._

_"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"_

"You were there and I didn't sense you? Damn you're good." Severus said, actually impressed.

"I've had loads of practice," Harry said dryly.

_"Search me."_

_"Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps._

_"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Ron held up his hand._

_"Can you smell something?"_

_Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean._

"Ewwww!"

_And then they heard it - a low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed – at the end of the passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight._

_It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long._

_The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room._

_"The key's in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."_

_"Good idea," said Ron nervously._

"NO! BAD IDEA!" Hermione shrilled, panicking.

_They edged towards the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door and lock it._

_"Yes!"_

_Flushed with their victory they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop – a high, petrified scream – and it was coming from the chamber they'd just chained up._

_"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron._

_"It's the girls' toilets!" Harry gasped._

_"Hermione!" they said together._

"You locked the troll in with her?" Pansy yelled at Harry, paling quickly.

"It wasn't as if we did it on purpose. We didn't know that it was the girls' toilet! The only one I frequent is Myrtles!" Harry defended himself.

_It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic – Harry pulled the door open – they ran inside._

_Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went._

_"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and seizing a tap he threw it as hard as he could against the wall._

_The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its meal little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went._

"Harry!" everyone either groaned or yelled.

"What? Hermione may have been a pain in the rump, but I didn't want her to be harmed," Harry stated.

"And what about yourself?" Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It wouldn't have mattered much if the troll had got me or not – my family wouldn't have cared. Hermione's family would have," Harry shrugged.

"And he wonders why we have at least one person to babysit him at all times," Neville said crossly.

_"OY, pea-brain! Yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout towards Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it._

_"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her towards the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror._

"She is extremely intelligent, but in dangerous situations she panics," Harry rolled his eyes then sniggers as a memory comes to him. "Carry spare wood with you Hun?"

"Stop it you!" Hermione blushed, pushing Harry away from her playfully.

Harry laughed and snuggled into her. "You know you love me."

"Unfortunately for me, yes, I do," Hermione said mournfully.

_The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape._

_Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid:_

"I made such a good Gryffindor that day," Harry beamed, wiping away an imaginary tear.

_He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind._

Everyone laughed as Harry beamed at them. "I told you it was the only way to battle trolls, Vernon and other mountainous enemies."

_The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped – it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils._

Narcissa and Pansy shuddered but ignored the fact for the rest of the story.

_Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club._

_Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand – not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "Wingradium Leviosa!"_

_The club flew suddenly out of the trolls' hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over – and dropped, with a sickening crack, on to its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble._

_Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, starting at what he had done._

"He was probably surprised that he managed to do something right!" Severus said scathingly.

"Probably," Harry, Luna, Hermione and Neville shrugged.

_It was Hermione who spoke first._

_"Is it – dead?"_

_"I don't think so," said Harry, "I think it's just been knocked out."_

_He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy grey glue._

_"Urgh – troll bogies."_

Everyone in the room turned green. "And you still handle that?" Narcissa asked, sounding sick.

"I did get Poppy to sanitize it for me," Harry said in an insulted tone of voice.

"That's good," Lucius said, sounding as green as he looked.

_He wiped it on the troll's trousers._

_A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn't realised what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Profess McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart._

"He couldn't believe that the troll had been beaten by first years," Tom laughed.

"Neither could the rest of us teachers," Severus said chillingly.

_Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from Harrys mind._

"That confused me to no end. I mean, the way everyone talked and acted around Gryffindor House, indicated that that was the behaviour that was expected of the house's occupants, but whenever someone from that house acted that way, the head of Gryffindor house treated us as if she were Severus instead," Harry ranted, shaking his head in confusion.

"_What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"_

_Snape have Harry a swift, piercing look._

"You were trying to see whether or not I was the one responsible for Ron and Hermione being there, weren't you?" Harry asked, his behaviour saying that he knew the answer. Severus blushed at the truth in the statement and Harry sighed in agitation. "What do I need to do to prove to you that I am not nor will I ever be my father or godfather. I never met one of them and I only had a few weeks with the other?"

_Harry looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down._

_Then a small voice came out of the shadows._

_"Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me."_

_"Miss Granger!"_

_Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last._

_"I went looking for the troll because I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read all about them."_

_Ron had dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?_

Blaise, Pansy and Draco looked at Hermione in shock.

"Yes, shocking, I know," Hermione said dryly.

_"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."_

_Harry and Ron tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them._

"And succeeded in fooling everyone there. Including me!" Severus groaned.

"The best thing to do when telling a lie is to stay to the truth as much as possible," Harry said with a half-smirk.

"The two boys were looking for me and while I didn't think that I could deal with one on my own," Hermione begain.

"She had already gotten a reputation for thinking she could do things others couldn't because she learns best when reading the information rather than doing. And the part about us finding her just as it was going to finish her off was ," Harry continued.

"True. I just left out the fact that it was them that locked it in with me since even if they hadn't locked it in there, it still would have tried to kill me. They didn't have the time to get anyone and Harry had," Hermione grinned at Harry, noticing the way everyone in the room twitched when they continued each other's sentences.

"Stuck my wand up its nose and Ron did knock it out with its own club," Harry grinned back, noticing the same thing.

"So it wasn't really a lie, It was simply a stretched version of the truth," they finished together.

"Such Slytherin thinking in two lion cubs," Tom and Lucius lamented.

_"Well – in that case …" said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"_

_Hermione hung her head. Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets._

"More like McGonagall handing out 'get-out-of-detention-free cards," Draco muttered.

"You mean one of these?" Harry asked innocently, pulling out a card excusing him from any detetention and signed by Minerva McGonagall. Everyone looked at the teen, speechless.

_"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you are not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses."_

_Hermione left._

_Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron._

_"Well, I still say you were lucky, but no many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."_

"And that was unfair. She gives us 5 points for that, but then she takes 150 points for trying to help a friend. And people keep trying to convince us that it is SNAPE that is the harshest Professor in the school," Harry raged then looked directly at a wall, "and yes Aunt Minnie, I did just go there!"

_They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quiet apart from anything else._

"I'll say! That thing reeked worse than the twins' bedroom on a hot summer's day after they had been experimenting!" Hermione groused.

_"We should have got more than ten points," Ron grumbled._

_"Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's"_

_"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."_

_"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Harry reminded him._

_They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady._

_"Pig snout," they said and entered._

_The common-room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said 'Thanks' and hurried off to get plates._

"That seemed awkward," Tom chuckled.

"You can say that again," Harry and Hermione chorused.

_But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them._

"So that's how the three of you became friends?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah. We all bonded through that," Harry said with a small smile.

"Some of us just bonded more than others," Hermione said with a grim look, obviously thinking of Ronald again.

"Or matured at a faster rate," Blaise said with a soft grin.

"Or that," Hermione snorted.

Harry stretched as Neville put the book down. "What time is it?"

"Just gone to ten in the morning. Why?"

Harry stood and made his way to the bathroom. "No reason. I'm thinking of allowing the house-elves to serve us today and I'll start cooking again tomorrow, that way, we can just continue reading throughout the time to make up for the days we missed due to me sleeping away the days. What do you think?"

As he entered the room, he smiled at the sounds of agreement and hisses of pain as stiff muscles were moved.

* * *

Now then, I have finally finished redoing these chapters so starting from whenever I get the time, I can start on the next chapter! yay me! Lol


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey peeps. Just wanting to aplologise about the length of time between this post and the last one. I do have reasons though. the first is that my old computer blew up - and that isn't an exageration, it actually blew up, with smoke and everything. The second is that I have recently became the primary carer for my grandparents so my days are filled with looking after them, doctor appointments, road trips, cleaning, cooking, Home and Away *shudders*and Day time TV *whimpers*. My nights after about nine are my own however and armed with my new laptop and the blissful silence of a caravan and armed with a pot of tea and a shot of port, the nights are mine to create and type. so hopefully there will be more than one update every year from now on. thanks for reding and being bored! Oh, and if the set-up is alien to you, don't worry, It's alien to us all ... even me . ... . ... .**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 12

Harry smiled as he stood in the doorway, watching his family interact with the new comers and decided to call a family meeting to discuss the possibility of making the seven Slytherins in the room real members of their family … or at least, make them charges of his family so he would always be able to keep an eye on their wellbeing. He smothered the desire to snort in amusement when Neville looked up in worry from his discussion with, of all people, Severus Snape and asked, "You don't think he's fallen in and gotten stuck again do you?"

"No I haven't," Harry said, laughing when everyone in the room jumped at his voice. "And I'll thank you to never ever bring that up again. You know that the only reason that occurred was because I had been forced to transform due to Ronald's idiocy and got my wings stuck in the bowl," he scowled. It had taken him almost three weeks to wash enough times to finally feel clean enough to touch another person again.

"Sorry Harry, " Neville said sheepishly, giving a half-shrug.

"It's fine Nev," Harry grinned, walking over to him and giving him a soft kiss on the top of his head like he had done several times to Hermione and Luna. How about you order me something to drink and then we start on the next chapter?"

Neville smiled at him and snapped his fingers, calling the house-elf Elise had bought to them and ordering tea for everyone. He knew that with Harry asking him to order it instead of ordering it himself, he was allowing him to doctor Harry's tea with the potions that he needed.

After everyone had a tea before them and they were all seated in their normal spots, Luna seemingly pulled the book out of thin air and opened it to the right page on her first attempt.

_Chapter 11 – Quidditch_

Luna smiled as she read out the title just as Draco let out a groan.

"Do we have to read this chapter?" he whined.

"Yes," Harry, Lucius and Narcissa called out.

"If we don't read all of it, we might miss something important," Harry clarified, taking a sip of his tea and feeling tension leave his shoulders that he didn't even know that he had.

"I guess you're right," Draco sighed.

_As they entered November, the weather turned very cold._

**~ No sssshit ssssherlock~** Harry hissed.

"Why do you keep saying that," Tom asked, intrigued. This caused the reading to be stopped while Harry translated from parseltongue and then explained about Sherlock Holmes to the purebloods in the room.

_The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel._

"It is beautiful," Harry sighed, eyes misted over in remembrance, "particularly from the sky on a full moon with no clouds in the area. The landscape is in various shades of white and grey. Beautiful."

_Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch, bundled up in a long mole-skin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves and enormous beaver skin boots._

"Can you believe that he made all of those clothes himself?" Hermione asked, almost reverently.

"Did he really?" Severus asked, impressed.

"Yeah, he also good at dissecting things for potions ingredients. If we find something we need, Hagrid is the one we go to for getting it rendered down into its components," Hermione beamed. Severus sits back in his chair with a thoughtful look on his face. Maybe he could make a deal with the half-giant just like the younger members of the room had done.

_The Quidditch season had begun. On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin._

"Trust the first match of the season to be between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It couldn't be between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, could it?" Harry drawled sarcastically. "After all, the first match of the year is always the bloodiest, and the Gryffindor-Slytherin matches are always more so, and then you go and put them into Potions together!" Harry growled his frustration.

_If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the house championship._

_Hardly anyone had seen Harry play because Wood had decided that, as their secret weapon, Harry should be kept, well, secret._

"We'd all found out half an hour after your broom arrived," Blaise chuckled.

"Yes, I thought as much. I discovered earlier that the best way for me to inform anyone of anything was to let Draco find out," Harry laughed.

"Yes, he is a bit of a gossip, isn't he," Lucius said, smirking as his son pouted at everyone. He hadn't let this side of him come out to play in a long time and, he thought, it was about time that it did.

_But the news that he was playing Seeker had leaked out somehow, and Harry didn't know which was worse – people telling him he'd be brilliant or people telling him they'd be running around underneath him holding a mattress._

"I remember one of the Slytherins say that in a really nasty tone. I fluttered my lashes at him and said that if he wanted me to pin him the mattress all he had to do was ask and he fled," Harry laughed, holding his sides.

"Do you remember who it was?" Pansy asked excitedly.

"Robert Greengrass – Daphne's cousin." Harry said with a satisfied nod.

"So that's what had him spooked," Severus said with a smirk.

"No," Harry smirked back. "What had him spooked was the fact that he got turned on by the idea."

Tom shuddered at the thought. No way was he interested in hearing about this kind of thing. He had nothing against people who liked their own sex, but not if it included him.

_It was really lucky that Harry now had Hermione as a friend._

"Aw, now don't I feel special?" Hermione said with a dry sarcasm that impressed even Severus.

_He didn't know how he'd have got through all his homework without her, what with all the last-minute Quidditch practise Wood was making them do._

"I keep telling you that timetables are the way to go," Hermione said smugly. "This just proves my point."

"But why do we need them when we have you to keep telling us what we have to do, Mum?" Harry and Neville teased gently, making Hermione blush lightly.

_She had also lent him Quidditch Through the Ages, which turned out to be a very interesting read._

"Just not as interesting as the History book," Harry said thoughtfully, making everyone bar Hermione – who was beaming at him – look at him as though he was giving a public lap dance to Dumbledore's brother. Harry just grinned and toddled his fingers in Draco's direction. "Hey there, Good Lookin'."

Draco blushed deeply and looked away from Harry as his mother, Pansy and Luna giggled softly to themselves while Lucius and Severus were trying their hardest to not chuckle at the blonde teen.

_Harry learnt that there were seven hundred ways of committing a Quidditch foul and that all of them had happened during a World Cup match in 1473; that Seekers were usually the smallest and fastest players and that most serious Qudditch accidents seemed to happen to them; that although people rarely died playing Quidditch, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara desert._

"Better than Antarctica," Harry said with a negligent shrug of his shoulders.

"Why's that?" Tom asked with a thoughtful frown.

"Because you can use magic n the Sahara," Hermione answered.

"Antarctica and the Arctic are frozen for a reason. They are the focal points for the Earths' natural magic. Just like muggles use the polar ice as a reference to the state of the Earth's health, we can measure the health of magic using them," Neville added.

"Really?" Severus asked, perking up in interest.

"Yes, didn't you know that?" Harry asked with a slight frown. All of the Slytherins in the room, past and present, shook their heads in the negative. "Here. Read these. They will explain it better than any of us could." Harry walked over to a draw and pulled out a large bundle of journals and placed them on the table they were all gathered around.

"Wealth Watchers," Draco murmured, reading the title.

"Read them. They're very good," Luna smiled softly.

_Hermione had become a bit more relaxed about breaking rules since Harry and Ron had saved her from the mountain troll and she was much nicer for it._

"You see Hunny?" Harry whispered to Hermione, only loud enough for her and Narcissa to hear. "All you needed was to stop being so nervous and trying to impress everyone. You're such a sweetie, how could we not like you?"

Hermione smiled and snuggled into Harry's side happily while Narcissa nodded her approval of his words while she muttered what he had said to her husband who also nodded in approval.

_The day before Harry's first Quidditch match the three of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and she had conjured them up a bright blue fire which could be carried around in a jam jar._

"You could do that spell back then?" Blaise asked Hermione incredulously.

"Yes. I also taught Harry and Ron how to do it. Ronald's only lasts for a minute or two, and Harry's is never blue. For some reason his is always green or black," Hermione rolled her eyes. "I have no idea what it is he's doing wrong or differently."

Severus chuckled. "It doesn't matter what colour the flame is, Miss Granger. If you visualise a pink and yellow stripped flame with orange polka dots, that is the flame you will get."

Hermione turned to the grinning teen beside her and started to hit him repeatedly with the pillow that had appeared in her hands, making everyone, including Harry, laugh.

_They were standing with their backs to it, getting warm, when Snape crossed the yard. Harry noticed at once that Snape was limping._

"Why are you only this observant while not in my class?" Severus groaned. Harry raised an eyebrow in response, as though he was asking him, 'you really just asked that?' "I know, Stupid Question, right?" Severus sighed, rubbing his temples.

"And they say you can't teach old dogs new tricks!" Neville, Hermione and Luna laughed. Narcissa, Lucius, Tom and Draco all struggled to hide their amusement.

_Harry, Ron and Hermione moved closer together to block the fire from view; they were sure it wouldn't be allowed. Unfortunately, something about their guilty faces caught Snape's eye._

"Naturally," Harry, Hermione, Blaise, Draco, Pansy, Luna and Neville chorused before laughing at what they had done.

_He limped over. He hadn't seen the fire, but he seemed to be looking for a reason to tell them off anyway._

_"What's that you've got there, Potter?"_

_It was Quidditch Through the Ages. Harry showed him._

_"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," said Snap. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."_

"SEVERUS SNAPE! YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT IT IS NOT AGAINST THE RULES BECAUSE WE USED TO DO THE SAME THING WHEN WE WERE AT SCHOOL!" Narcissa yelled, making Draco, Harry, Hermione and Lucius cover their ears with pained yelps.

Severus whimpered under her poisonous glare and tried to hide from the enraged woman.

_"He just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"_

_"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron bitterly._

"Very well said for a Weasel," Narcissa hissed, still glaring at Severus, who had lowered his head further at her words.

_The Gryffindor common-room was very noisy that evening. Hatrry, Ron and Hermione sat together next to the window. Hermione was checking Harry and Ron's Charms homework for them. She would never let them copy ('How will you learn?'), but by asking her to read it through, they got the right answers anyway._

"You … You … You …" Hermione looked at Harry with her jaw dropped to her chest.

"That was very very very Slytherin of you Harry," Tom smirked.

"Hey, all I asked her to do was look through my work to make sure I was on the right track and to point out the areas that I needed to flesh out more and the areas that I had to put less details in." Harry said with a scowl at Hermione who was still saying "You," repeatedly.

Hermione jumped onto Harry and squeezed him hard, making him fall on the floor.

"Um, Sweetie? Can you get off me, you're bruising my kidneys."

When Hermione didn't move fast enough for Draco's liking, he growled and picked her up off of Harry and placed her on Severus' lap before turning back to pick Harry off the floor and sit down again with Harry on his lap.

"Was that just a Tarzan moment, or a caveman moment?" Harry asked Hermione, blinking at Draco in confusion.

Hermione chuckled and climbed off of Severus' lap as calmly and as dignified as she could. "I don't know about you, but it felt caveman to me." Harry just nodded, still blinking at Draco, who had decided that he was going to copy every movement Harry made.

Hermione, Neville and Tom giggled softly as the two exchanged blinks: blink for blink.

_Harry felt restless. He wanted Quidditch Through the Ages back, to take his mind off his nerves about tomorrow. Why should he be scared of Snape?_

Everyone in the room looked at Harry as though he were insane.

"What?" Harry asked. "I wanted the book back. I was too nervous to care about what he could do to me; after all, it's against school policy to kill the student's off one at a time.

Everyone blinked at him, struggling to understand his words.

_Getting up, he told Ron and Hermione he was going to ask Snape if he could have it._

_"Rather you than me," they said together, but Harry had an idea that Snape wouldn't refuse if there were other teachers listening._

_He made his way down to the staffroom and knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again. Nothing."_

"Now is when you walk away and come back later," Pansy states, panicking slightly.

Neville chuckled. "That would be the Slytherin thing to do, but remember what he's masquerading as."

Everyone who wasn't present for this paled, but none as much as Severus, who also dropped his head into his hands. He was dead.

_Perhaps Snape had left the book in there? It was worth a try. He pushed the door ajar and peered inside – and a horrible sight met his eyes_.

"And no, it wasn't Trelawny in drag," Neville joked, trying to get Draco to release his tightening hold on Harry.

Harry looked at Neville, honest confusion screaming from every pore. "You mean Trelawny isn't already in drag?"

Everyone started to laugh or chuckle, which lead to Draco loosening his hold on the dark-haired teen. Neville shook his head, chuckling. "Only you Harry. Only you."

_Snape and Filch were inside, alone. Snape was holding his robes above his knees._

Hermione, Lucius and Narcissa all turned a delicate shade of green as very inappropriate images crowded their minds.

"Please, please, please, please, please say that isn't what it sounds like," Tom begged, actually going onto his knees and shuffling on them over to Harry.

"It's not what it sounds like," Harry and Severus chorused, both freaked out about seeing The Dark Lord on his knees before anyone.

_One of his legs was bloody and mangled. Filch was handing Snape bandages."_

"We told you so," Harry and Severus deadpanned, giving Tom the same half-amused, half-sickened glare.

_"Blasted thing," Snape was saying. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"_

"You knew it was there and you didn't tell us about the danger to Draco!" Narcisssa and Lucius combined their resources to try and stare Severus down.

"Oh quite it, both of you," Severus growled. "You know would have told you about it if I could, but have you ever tried to talk through a vow of silence?"

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged sheepish looks. "Oh."

_Harry tried to shut the door quietly, but –_

_"POTTER!"_

_Snape's face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes quickly to hide his leg. Harry gulped._

_"I just wondered if I could have my book back."_

Blaise, Draco, Pansy, Lucius and Tom looked at Harry once more with their jaws dropped as wide as they could go.

"You saw and heard that and you still asked him for the book back?" Narcissa squeaked.

"Yeah, Aldron wasn't going to be turning up and I needed to do something," Harry trailed off, fidgeting under the stares he was still getting from the five Slytherins.

"Why not tangle with a troll? It would have been safer," Blaise whispered harshly after a few long and uncomfortable minutes.

"I did that on Halloween. It got boring after a while," Harry whined, completely serious. Blaise just continued to gawk at him for his reaction.

_"GET OUT! OUT!"_

_Harry left, before Snape could take any more points from Gryffindor. He sprinted back upstairs._

"So you can do something intelligent," Draco teased gently.

Harry grinned sheepishly, "Only when no one is watching.

"Oh I'm so proud! I taught my little boy so well," Luna said, wiping away a fake tear in the imitation of a proud mother, causing Harry, Hermione and Neville to laugh softly at the blonde girl.

_"Did you get it?" Ron asked as Harry jined them. "What's the matter?"_

_In a low whisper, Harry told them what he'd seen._

_"You know what this means?' he finished breathlessly, "he tried to get past that three-headed dog at Hallowe'en! That's where he was going when we saw him – he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick he let that troll in, to make a diversion!"_

"Good thing I didn't make that bet," Harry chuckled at himself, "Or I wouldn't have a broom.

_Hermione's eyes were wide._

_"No – he wouldn't," she said. "I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."_

"He would if there was something in it for him," Harry, Draco and Lucius chorused, ignoring Severus who was rubbing his forehead and muttering something about loud-mouthed fools.

_"Honestly, Hermione, you think all the teachers are Saint's or something," snapped Ron. "I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?"_

_Harry went to bed with his head buzzing with the same question. Neville was snoring loudly, but Harry couldn't sleep. He tried to empty his mind –_

"See? I didn't know how to clear my mind! The only way I can do that is to cook or spend time with Aldron – and as I can't see you pinning me to the closest surface and fucking me til my brains fall out of my ears, then you have to TEACH ME FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Harry glared at Severus, making said man cringe away from him.

_He needed to sleep, he had to, he had his first Quidditch match in a few hours – but the expression on Snape face when Harry had seen his leg wasn't easy to forget."_

Neville quickly jumped up and covered Harry's mouth. "We already know what you think of angry dark wizards. If you can wait just a few more days, then you can see Aldron again."

Harry beamed at Neville and seemed to snuggle down into Draco's hold more, purring only just audibly.

_The next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages._

"Mmmm, sausage," Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna moaned.

_And the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match._

_"You've got to eat some breakfast."_

_"I don't want anything."_

_"Just a bit of toast," wheedled Hermione._

_"I'm not hungry."_

"That's not the first time I had to do that," Hermione sighed.

"And it wouldn't be the last, either," Neville said with an answering sigh.

"If it annoys you that much, then you should just leave me be then, shouldn't you?" Harry snapped, slightly peeved at the two of them. Hermione and Neville just glared back at him until he looked away.

_Harry felt terrible. In an hour's time he'd be walking on to the pitch._

_"Harry, you need your strength," said Seamus Finnigan. "Seekers are always the ones who get nobbled by the other team."_

_"Thanks, Seamus," said Harry, watching Seamus pile ketchup on his sausages._

"That made me feel even sicker," Harry said with a distinctly green sound to his voice and look on his face. "How can anyone like that crap? It's poison!"

_By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes._

"I had no idea!" Harry said sarcastically, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows.. "I mean, you'd think that a game in which the players have a large area to fly in would be easy to watch without any visual aids."

"And this is who will be carrying your child should you turn out to be mates?" Neville asked with a sly smirk at Draco.

"And what a wonderful image that will be," Draco hummed dreamily, licking his lips slightly. Tom starts to choke on what everyone asuumes to be his own laughter.

"If that isn't an affirmation that he is Draco's mate, then I don't know what is," Pansy chuckled.

"Mine," Draco happily nodded, eyes still focused somewhere in the future.

"Two gorgeous dark angels?" Harry half-squeals. "I've died and gone to Hell!"

Draco snuggled into Harry, cooing at him while Harry nuggled back, purring.

"Oh no. We've just made our lives harder for ourselves," Neville said with a sad shake of his head.

"No," Hermione whimpered. Both Harry and Draco turned and growled at her, making her pale and move back as far as she could.

"Ok, Harry does have some creature in him. It's just a question of which one," Severus sighed.

Tom and Lucius paled drastically as the same thought hit their minds at the same time. "A vampire/creature hybrid pregnant with the young of a Veela? That's scary, even more so with what we've seen of Harry's temperament."

Harry just grinned at the two men, showing more teeth than either of them thought was needed.

_Ron and Hermione joined Neville, Seamus and Dean the West Ham fan in the top row. As a surprise for Harry, they had painted a large banner on one of the sheets Scabbers had ruined. It said 'Potter for President' and Dean, who was good at drawing, had drawn a large Gryffindor lion underneath. Then Hermione had done a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colours._

"I remember that banner," Pansy piped up with a smile towards the curly-haired female. "It was beautiful."

"Yes," Blaise nodded, "It really was wonderfully done."

_Meanwhile, in the change rooms, Harry and the rest of the team were changing into their scarlet robes (Slytherin would be playing in green)._

_Wood cleared his throat. "Ok men," he said._

_"And women," said chaser Angelina Johnson._

_"And women," Wood agreed. "This is it."_

_"The big one," said Fred Weasley._

_"The one we've all been waiting for," Said George._

_"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred told Harry, "We were on the team last year."_

Everyone in the room either chuckled softly or smiled sadly at memories gone past.

"So that's why you all managed to come out of the locker rooms laughing – after your first game that is," Draco said with a shake of his head.

"No," Harry said with a smile, his eyes seeing things that had happened in the distant past. "We had the Weasley Twins. They would flirt with anything that had legs … and some things that didn't."

"Once they had everyone in the Gryffindor common room rolling on the ground in tears of laughter by fighting over who was going to take a cushion found on a chair to bed that night to 'show it a good time.'" Neville chuckled at the memory. "They fought for about ten minutes before agreeing to share it. Turns out they ended up sleeping on the floor in their dorm because they couldn't agree who's bed to sleep in."

Everyone in the room started laughing again through the tale.

_"Shut up you two," said Wood. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win, I just know it."_

_He glared at them as though to say 'or else'._

_"Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."_

_Harry followed Fred and George out of the changing room and, hoping his knees weren't going to give way, walked onto the pitch to loud cheers._

"Hang on, wait up," Blaise interrupted. "Do you mean to tell us that you were nervous?"

Harry chuckled and scratched the back of his head nervously. "I was so nervous that I couldn't think, breath and could only just move without throwing up."

"Wow … just … wow," Blaise stuttered. "You sure as Hell didn't look it."

"I'm a natural Bottom," Harry smirked in the Italian teen's direction. "That means that I can fake it." He grinned when all of the Slytherins in the room chocked on their next breath. He grinned even wider at the shrieks of "Harry!" coming from those he considered his family.

_Madam Hooch was refereeing. She stood in the middle of the pitch waiting for the two teams, her broom in hand._

_"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, once they were all gathered around her. Harry noticed that she seemed to be speaking particularly to the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, a sixth year._

"That's because she was. Hello!" Hermione said with mock exasperation that made Harry burst into giggles for no apparent reason.

_Harry thought that Flint looked as if he had some troll blood in him._

"How would that work?" Tom asked, a look of great distaste on his face.

Harry looked at the man with mock-shock. "Uncle Tommy! You mean to tell me that you don't know? Well, when two magical being decide they want to procreate …"

"PLEASE STOP!" everyone in the room shouted, covering their ears in horror and embarrassment.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked them slowly, hiding his grin the best he could.

"YES" They yelled out desperately.

_Out of the corner of his eye he saw the fluttering banner high above, flashing 'Potter for President' over the crowd. His heart skipped. He felt braver._

_"Mount your brooms, please."_

"I would love to," Harry said dreamily. "I haven't flown in so long."

_Harry clambered onto his Nimbus Two Thousand._

_Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle._

_Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high in the air. They were off._

_"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson_

"Gryffindor. Originally against Harry being on the team. She is now starting her training for her Mastery in Transfiguration," Luna hummed, making everyone jump as they'd forgotten her presence. Luna just smiled softly at them.

_Of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too –_

_"JORDAN!"_

_"Sorry Professor."_

_The Weasley Twin's friend, Lee Jordan,_

"Most likely person to be the mate of one of the Twins when they get turned. The other being the pretty woman next to Narcissa. Other than Harry, he is the only correspondent they have concerning their pranks," Neville chuckled softly.

_Was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall._

"Minnie!" Harry squealed excitedly. "Head of Gryffindor, Transfiguration Professor, Temperamental and addicted to Catnip!"

Hermione hid her face in her hands in despair while Draco, Blaise and Pansy tried to smother their laughter.

"_And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet,_

"Obviously a Gryffindor chaser and an absolute wiz at Arithmancy. Not good in a position of leadership though," Hermione rattled out without a breath.

_A good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – and back to Johnson and no, - Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint_

"Slytherin and devout follower of Voldemort, but we suspect that he just likes the killing. He is also the person who is second on Harry's 'to kill' list after the Dursleys," Neville announced with a hidden smirk. He can't wait to see the reactions of the adults to the information they had on that spineless bastard.

"Why?" Lucius asked confused. "I've worked with him in the Ministry and I have found nothing to be wrong with him."

"I hate rapists," Harry said, stonily.

"He's the one who is responsible for those incidences?" Tom hissed, eyes flashing dangerously. At Harry's nod, Tom hissed again. "I'll kill the bastard myself when I next see him!"

"Can I help?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"Kinky," Neville muttered only just loud enough for Luna to hear, who just grinned and winked at him.

_Gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up there – he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and Gryffindor take the Quaffle – That's Chaser Katie Bell_

"Followed Wood into Professional Quidditch and is pretty good in Divination," Luna hummed.

_Of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a bludger – Quaffle taken by Slytherin – that's Adrian Pucey_

"A bottom if I ever saw one," Harry grinned devilishly.

"And you catching him and that Ravenclaw in a compromising position had nothing to do with that, huh?" Hermione asked in a too sweet voice.

"That too," Harry said with a charming wink in her direction, making Luna and Neville chuckle softly.

_Speeding off towards the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger - the goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angellina – Keeper Bletchley_

"Allergic to dust mites: discovered after he was dumped with a bag full of the beasties after almost killing Luna in the name of fun," Harry growled, being the only one in the room to notice Severus' flinch.

_Dives – misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"_

"I did that night. It was wonderful," Harry hummed happily, eyes almost fully glazed over. He ignored the growl coming from Narcissa, who was NOT happy to hear of someone underage being touched in that manner.

"Lady Malfoy," Neville interrupted when he noticed that Harry wasn't going to say anything. "Remember that Harry isn't entirely human and even though we don't know what species he is, we do know that he had his first heat when he first came to Hogwarts – a month after he turned eleven, and if you've ever seen or gone through a heat when there was no one that could help you through it, then you'd know how much better it is for him to have someone with him – even better if it is Aldron."

Lucius, Narcissa and Severus looked between Neville and Harry in shock. "He had his first heat at eleven?"

Neville nodded. "And since this crap with Ronald and Hermione has occurred, he has been fighting against his heat – going as far as to refuse to let even Aldron touch him because of Hermione's clinginess."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Blaise asked, putting a hand on Draco's shoulder to keep him in his seat.

"It takes four days for Neville and myself to heal him from the gouges in his arms, legs and chest as he tried to stop the burning by tearing it from his flesh with his own two hands," Luna said, large silver eyes shining softly as she looked at Harry. "And if we don't get him to Aldron - or Aldron to him in time for the next one, then he may well just succeed in being the first person to pull his own body apart."

Everyone in the room looked at Harry in unrestrained horror, even Hermione who was only just starting to understand what her actions were costing her brother.

_Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins._

_"Budge up there, move along."_

_"Hagrid!"_

_Ron and Hermione squeezed together to give Hagrid enough space to join them._

_"Bin watchin' from me hut," said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars round his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"_

"I knew where it was," Severus chortled, making Neville, Hermione, Luna and Harry to look at him suspiciously. "It was behind Minerva's head. She kept swatting at it like it was a fly."

Everyone but Harry, who kept looking at Severus in a suspicious manner, laughed with him at the image in their heads.

_"Nope," said Ron. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet."_

_"Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin'," said Hagrid, raising his binoculars and peering skywards at the speck that was Harry._

_Way above them, Harry was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. This was part of his and Wood's game plan._

_"Keep out of the way until you catch sight of the Snitch," Wood had said. "We don't want you attacked before you have to be."_

"Too bad that he didn't know Harry as well as he does know back then," Neville fumed, thinking back to what Wood had told his dearest friend before a Quidditch game that could have ended with Harry losing his life.

_When Angelina had scored, Harry had done a couple of loop-the-loops to let off his feelings. Now he was back to staring around for the Snitch. Once he caught sight of a flash of gold but it was just a reflection from one of the Weasleys' wristwatches,_

"You could tell without flying after it?" Severus asked, impressed, remembering how Harry hadn't moved until the Snitch had actually been sighted.

"Can't everyone?" Harry asked, as if that gift was commonplace.

"I can't, even now," Draco said seriously, turning Harry's questioning expression into a thoughtful one.

"I wonder …"

_And once a Bludger decided to come pelting his way, more like a cannon ball than anything, but Harry dodged it and Fred Weasley came chasing after it._

_"All right there Harry?" he had time to yell, as he beat the Bludger furiously towards Marcus Flint._

_"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and chaser Bell and speeds towards the – wait a moment - was that the Snitch?"_

_A murmur went through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that passed his left ear._

_Harry saw it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downwards after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs_

"The World's biggest Drama Queen. Understandable that he could get no other house bar Slytherin," Harry and Neville chorused, one in laughter, one in all seriousness.

"Hey!" Pansy and Blaise called out.

_Had seen it too. Neck and neck they hurtled towards the Snitch – all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch._

_Harry was faster than Higgs – he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead – he put on an extra spurt of speed –_

_WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindor's below – Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose and Harry's broom had spun off course, Harry holding on for dear life._

_"Foul!" Screamed the Gryffindors_

"I should think so!" Narcissa growled angrily. "He could have killed Harry! I'm all for competition in games, but no game is worth killing for!"

_Madam hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again._

_Down in the stands, Dean Thomas was yelling, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"_

_"This isn't football, Dean," Ron reminded him. "You can't send people off in Quidditch – and what's a red card?"_

_But Hagrid was on Dean's side._

"Now don't I feel special?" Harry stated with heavy sarcasm.

_"They oughta change the rules, Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air."_

_Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides._

_"So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating –"_

_"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall._

_"I mean, after that open and revolting foul –"_

_"Jordan, I'm warning you –"_

_"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure,_

"Yes," Luna said seriously, "It could happen to anyone …. As long as their name is Harry Potter."

"Very funny Luna," Harry said dryly, crossing his arms slightly.

_"So a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."_

_It was as Harry dodged another Bludger which went spinning dangerously past his head that it happened. His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that._

_It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. Harry tried to turn back towards the Gryffindor goal posts; he had half a mind to ask Wood to call time out – and then her realised that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air and every now and then making violent swishing movements which almost unseated him._

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville turned as one to face Tom and glared at him fiercely. Tom winced and tried to sink deep enough into his seat to hide from them.

_Lee was still commentating._

_"Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherin score – oh no …"_

_The Slytherins were cheering. No one seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went._

_"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled. He stared through his binoculars. "If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom … but he can't have …"_

_Suddenly, people were pointing up at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand._

"You mean you weren't doing that?" Blaise asked, shocked.

"No, I wasn't. Did everyone think that?" Harry pouted.

"Yes," Draco answered. "You just had an intense look of concentration on your face. No fear or anything."

"I wonder why?" Harry responded sarcastically. "I mean, trying to stay on an out-of-control broomstick is just oh-so-easy.

Draco, Pansy and Blaise blushed and fidgeted in their seats and cleared their throats nervously.

_"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered._

_"Can't have," Hagrid said, his voice shakng. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic – no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."_

_At these words, Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd._

_"What are you doing?" moaned Ron, grey-faced._

"See, he did care once,: Neville pointed out to Harry.

"Yeah, but that was before I grew up," Harry growled.

"True," Neville sighed.

_"I knew it," Hermione gasped, "Snape – look."_

"It wasn't me!" Severus almost shouted in his rush to get it out.

"We know that … know," Hermione said.

"But for all we knew, you were working with Quirrel, so don't go getting all self-righteous. It won't work because you have done far worse."

_Ron grabbed the binoculars. Snape was n the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering non-stop under his breath._

_"He's doing something – jinxing the broom," said Hermione._

_"What should we do?"_

_"Leave it to me."_

_Before Ron could say another word, Hermione had disappeared. Ron turned the binoculars back on Harry. His broom was vibrating so hard, it was almost impossible for him to hang on much longer. The whole crowd were on their feet, wathing, terrified, as the Weasleys flew up to try and pull Harry safely on to one of their brooms, but it was no good – every time they got near him, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled beneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he fell. Marcus Flint seized the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone noticing._

"Oh we noticed," Neville spat, "but we were more interested in praying to any gods and goddesses we thought would help keep Harry safe."

_"Come on, Hermione," Ron muttered desperately._

_Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood and was now racing long the row behind him; she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell head first into the row in front._

"Oh I am soooo happy I did that to that arse!" Hermione hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously. Tom thought about stating that she had also done it to him as well at the same time, but decided against it as he looked at her face and his preservation instincts flared into life.

_Reaching Snape, she crouched down, pulled out her wand and whispered a few, well-chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand on to the hem of Snape's robes_

"THAT WAS YOU!" Severus bellowed, leaping from his chair, eyes wild as he tried starring the brunette down.

"Yes it was," Hermione stated firmly, looking the dour man right in the eye. "And if I had to do it again to protect Harry, I will do so without hesitation."

Severus looked at the firm look of determination on her face, then looked to Luna and Neville to find them nodding their agreement and then to Harry, who was watching him very very very closely, making him more than a little nervous. He slowly moved away from the pregnant girl and sat on his seat, noticing that Harry didn't let up his stare until he was properly seated.

"Why do you get such fierce loyalty?" Tom whined, breaking the tense atmosphere that had appeared in the room.

"He both earned it and gives it back to us," Hermione, Neville and Luna stated.

Tom pouted, making Harry chuckle slightly.

_It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realise that he was on fire. A sudden yelp told her she had done her job. Scooping the fire off him into a little jar in her pocket she scrambled back along the row – Snape would never know what had happened._

"And you never saw or scented her?" Lucius asked, turning to his friend.

"Not once," Severus said, looking at the small group of four with astonishment. "Twenty points to Gryffindor for evading detection from a trained spy."

Hermione just smirked at the two men before turning her attention back to Harry.

_It was enough. Up in the air, Harry was suddenly able to clamber back on his broom._

_"Neville, you can look!" Ron said. Neville had been sobbing into Hagrid's jacket for the last five minutes._

"Yes I was," Neville stated, straightening with a pride that surprised the other males in the room, other than Harry. "I felt a connection to Harry that I had never felt with anyone else. Now I know why – he is my intended Lord."

"Nev was the first person to discover I was not on the side of Light. The first thing he did was bow and call me 'Lord'." Harry laughed, nudging the boy gently with an elbow.

"And he just smirked, placed a finger against his lips and winked before walking away," Neville said with a laugh in reply. "I don't think I have ever felt so … appreciated until that moment. Not only did a powerful wizard have an interest in being a friend, but he accepted my loyalty pledge without asking anything of me first. That was how I knew I had done the right thing – no matter what anyone has to say about it."

_Harry was speeding towards the ground when the crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick._

"After that ride, I don't blame you for having a bit of a rebellion in your stomach," Narcissa said kindly, rubbing her stomach in a soothing way, as if remembering her own stomach rebellion.

"Are you feeling well?" Harry asked at the same time a sheepish Draco stated,

"Not from the ride, Mother,"

"I am feeling fine, Harry, thank you," Narcissa replied with a soft smile before leaning into Lucius, who placed his hand protectively over Narcissa's lower abdomen.

_- He hit the pitch on all fours – coughed – and something gold fell into his hand._

"You swallowed the Snitch?" Lucius asked, not being able to hide the amusement in his voice.

Harry scowled playfully. "I was gasping in relief and the damn thing flew in there!"

Lucius started to laugh at the look on Harry's face, making his wife smile up at him lovingly.

_"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion._

"I bet it did," Narcissa laughed softly, eyes still on the open face of her husband.

_"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it," Flint was still howling twenty minutes later, but it made no difference – Harry hadn't broken any rules_

"I did offer it to Higgs," Harry said, looking at everyone in the room with earnest eyes, wide with innocence, "but for some reason he didn't want it."

Tom started to laugh and didn't stop until he had tears rolling down his cheeks.

_And Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the result – Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty. Harry heard none of this, though. He was being made a cup of strong tea back in Hagrid's hut, with Ron and Hermione._

"He needed it!" Hermione said, shaking slightly at the memory. "He was shaking worse than a soft-set jelly."

Luna perked up and tilted her head to the right. "Lime or raspberry?"

"Port wine, why?" Hermione responded.

"Hmm, no reason," she smiled, returning to the book.

_"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."_

Tom turned a pale green. "That is not the type of image I wanted to have in my head thanks."

Harry burst into laughter with Blaise and Pansy. "So we weren't the only one's who's minds went there?"

Tom groaned in distress and put his head into his hands.

_"Rubbish," said Hagrid, who hadn't heard a word of what had gone on next to him in the stands._

"Is he that deaf?" Lucius asked in disbelief.

"No," Hermione said with a smile at the older blonde. "He was just so worried about Harry that everything around him was unimportant."

"Someone could have shot him with his own crossbow and he wouldn't have even noticed," Harry said with a chuckle.

"He was the same in school," Tom responded, shaking his head. "But in that instance it was over some creature or another."

_"Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"_

_Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other, wondering what to tell him. Harry decided on the truth._

_"I found out something about him," he told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."_

_Hagrid dropped the teapot._

_"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said._

"I still cannot get over him calling it," Severus chocked slightly, than continued disdainfully. "Fluffy."

"When Harry was telling us about what happened at the end of last year, he told us that Voldemort was just a cranky toddler that missed out on his afternoon nap," Luna put in helpfully.

Everyone looked at Harry, who blinked at them in confusion. "What?"

_"Fluffy?"_

_"Yeah – he's mine – bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year – I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the –"_

_"Yes?" said Harry eagerly._

_"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."_

_"But Snape's trying to steal it."_

_"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothn' of the sort."_

_"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" cried Hermione._

_The afternoon's events certainly seemed to have changed her mind about Snape._

"Damn, Granger …" Draco began before being interrupted by a growl from Harry.

"Hermione!"

Draco sighed. "Hermione. You really did want him to put out for his Professors!"

Hermione blushed and looked away from the younger blonde male. "That was how I was bought up. Adults in any position of authority were to have my complete and utter devotion and deserved nothing but the best from me. Believing I saw a teacher putting a student at risk started me on my way of breaking through that conditioning."

_"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"_

_"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student!_

"I've been trying to prove him wrong ever since. I was hoping that he'd get rid of Weasley for us," Harry said as though it were a normal conversation.

"You wouldn't let him go that far," Neville snorted. "You want his blood on your hands, not someone elses."

"That's true," Harry hummed, deep in thought.

_Now, listen to me, all three of yeh – yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel –"_

Neville started to cackle away, rocking back and forwards as he tried to stop himself. "You two could always get Hagrid to tell you anything without the use of alcohol," he said once he had calmed down.

"I'm a Slytherin by blood and even I had to get him drunk before he'd tell me anything, even the most insignificant little detail," Tom pouted.

Harry smirked and poked his tongue out at the man.

"If you aren't going to use that, I'd put it away," Draco warned him.

**~Getting withdraw symptoms, Drakie?~** Harry hissed, making Tom laugh since he was the only one that understood what the teen had said.

_"Aha!" said Harry, "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"_

_Hagrid looked furious with himself._

"Oh I bet he was," Severus said with a smirk, watching as Harry wrote something down on the nearest piece of parchment before standing and stretching.

"I'm thinking a five minute break to stretch and move around a bit before the next chapter. All this sitting is driving me completely bonkers. I wonder if I can convince Elise to supply us with a couple of tread mills …" Harry walked towards the bathroom, still muttering under his breath, ignoring the fond looks and shakes of the head he received from everyone in the room.

"Um … what are treadmills?" Blaise asked, almost scared for his life.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

While Hermione tried to explain to the pure-bloods in the room just what treadmills were, Harry was in an empty room whining at the castle … who wasn't even listening to him.

"Elise, why can't we make a gym with equipment?" Harry waited a few moments before trying again. "Elise? Are you there? Stop ignoring me Elise …" Harry screamed out his frustration, running around the room as if he was being chased.

Out in the main room, everyone stopped what they were doing when they heard the screaming. Hermione and Luna giggled softly while Neville chuckled and shook his head.

"What was that?" Narcissa asked confusedly.

"That was Harry," Luna giggled. "Just watch what happens next."

Within five minutes Harry ran into the room, dodging what looked like soiled underpants.

"Mione!" he whined, tears gathering in his eyes. "Elise is ignoring me and then she sent Dobby up and when he discovered me running in the room for exercise he started to help by throwing Ron's dirty laundry at m-meeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Everyone watched the boy who was now clinging to his pregnant friend as he burst into tears for no reason.

Hermione, Neville and Luna all froze when the first tear fell then they all slumped over at once. "Damn it," Hermione growled. "Harry, sweetie, Elise isn't the one who sent Dobby. You know that she'd never do that to you. You know that she also wouldn't ignore you for just any reason. She is probably doing something about keeping Dumbledore away from you for as long as she can. And you know that if Dobby hears someone say anything concerning you, he will do whatever he think will work to keep you safe. After all, just look at second year sweetie."

Harry looked up at Hermione with wet eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive of it sweetie," was the reply.

Harry gave a beaming smile at the girl, "Okay then." He bounced over to Luna and Neville and snuggled into a very surprised Neville, before collapsing over their laps. "Who's turn is it to read?" he asked sleepily, nuzzling into Neville's stomach.

"That would be Draco," Luna's dreamy voice sounded into the silent room as she softly caressed Harry's mid- and lower back. "Do you wish for him to start?"

Harry nodded, purring softly and melting further into his two family members.

Draco cleared his throat and picked up the book that had somehow appeared beside him.

_Chapter 12 – The Mirror of Erised_

Harry whimpered when he heard the title of the chapter, only to be shushed softly by Luna, who started to hum softly.

_Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban._

"That was them?" Tom yelled, making an almost fully asleep Harry yelp in shock and fall off the lounge that he, Neville and Luna were on.

"Yeah, that was them," Hermione sniggered as Harry tried to send a hundred watt glare at the man through his pout. "You did want to know how they managed to rile up the Professor so easily."

"And don't think about trying to punish them either," Luna said as she helped Harry up off the floor and back into the position he was in before he fell. "Those two have a pain threshold that withstands the cruciatus curse."

"How in the hell did they manage that one?" Lucius asked, his eyebrows disappearing into his eyebrows.

"It's the result of them being their own guinea pigs for so long," Harry yawn, eyes already half closed once more. "They are immune to most pains, poisons, venoms and love potions."

"That would be handy," Severus mused, watching as the dark-haired teen fell into a doze-like state once more.

_The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again._

Hermione turned and glared at Harry. "And you sent Hedwig out in that?" she snapped.

"Mione," Harry responded, sounding like he was drunk, "Hedwig is a snowy owl. She is built for that type of weather. If I don't send her out in it, she goes off herself and it isn't like I sent her far – just to Hagrid's hut to see if he wanted a helping hand with the other owls, or a guest for tea."

Hermione blushed. "I forgot about that fact."

"That's evident," Blaise smirked at her, making her blush more.

_No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons._

"Yes I know," Narcissa stated dryly, looking at Severus with slightly narrowed eyes. "I have to give Draco a pepper-up potion every time he comes home for the Yule holidays, and send him the chilli wine filled chocolates for after the potion's class throughout winter."

Severus leant forward and rubbed his face tiredly, resting his elbows on his knees. "And I keep telling you that the Old Man removed the dungeon's heating charms and lessened the rest of the castle's heating charms. He says it's to help power the wards."

"And we all know that's a load of bullshit," Harry murmured, eyes open slightly.

"Of course it is a load of bullshit," Draco sneered, "Isn't everything that passes through that man's mouth?

Harry nodded, his eyes closing fully once more.

_'I do feel so sorry,' said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, 'for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home.'_

_He was looking over at Harry as he spoke._

Blaise, Draco and Pansy cleared their throats and paled slightly.

"I wasn't, I was looking forward to a semi-enjoyable holiday," Harry said with a roguish grin on his face.

_Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them._

_Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match._

"That we can easily believe," Lucius and Narcissa stated dryly.

"Hey," Draco whined with a pout, making Harry giggle slightly.

_Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next._

"Do you really want Harry to be replaced?" Luna asked Draco, making Harry open his eyes fully and watch the blonde intensely.

"No," Draco said without thinking. "Not with what he can do with his mouth," he continued before quickly covering his mouth and blushing deeply.

"DRACO!" Pansy yelped while trying not to laugh at her friend who was easily contending with a tomato with the vibrant red colour of his face.

"That's what's good about being a Parseltongue," Harry said with a wink at the embarrassed teen and curling his tongue.

"HARRY!" Neville yelped, looking uncomfortable at the fact that said person had his head resting comfortably on his lap.

Harry turned around so he could look up at the other Gryffindor male. "Yes?" he asked innocently. Hermione giggled softly, making everyone look at her in either shock or surprise. The girl blushed and looked away from everyone, muttering something ineligible.

_Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick._

Harry smirked, before allowing himself to relax into the wordless song that Luna was singing once more.

_So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family._

"Did you know you did me a favour with that?" Harry asked with a yawn.

"How?" Draco asked, looking confused.

"You spread the fact that Harry's family didn't like him faster than The Daily Profit would have," Hermione answered when a quick look showed her that Harry was more asleep than awake. Blaise and Pansy chuckled at the look on Draco's face.

_It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas._

_Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once. He didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had. Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie._

"And how did they manage to afford that?" Lucius asked with a sneer.

Harry, Hermione and Neville sneered slightly while Luna wrinkled her nose. "Their son paid for them to go visit him. It would have been cheaper for him to go to them."

"So there!" Tom shouted, hands on his hips. Everyone in the room blinked at him in shock or confusion.

_When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it._

_'Hi, Hagrid, want any help?' Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches._

_'Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron.'_

_'Would you mind moving out of the way?' came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. 'Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose - that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to.'_

Draco looked down shamefully before looking up in shock as Hermione burst into tears of laughter. "Oh I've got to remember that!" she wheezed, holding her stomach. Draco started to slowly inch away, eyes wide in horror making everyone else in the room chuckle at him.

_Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs._

_'WEASLEY!'_

_Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes._

_'He was provoked, Professor Snape,' said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. 'Malfoy was insultin' his family.'_

_'Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid,' said Snape silkily. 'Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you.'_

"I really was a bastard wasn't I?" Severus said, paling slightly at the look that Narcissa was giving him.

"What do you mean 'was'?" Neville blurted out without thinking. Quickly he covered his mouth with both hands as the Potions Master whimpered slightly and Harry glared at him.

_Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking._

_'I'll get him,' said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, 'one of these days, I'll get him -'_

_'I hate them both,' said Harry, 'Malfoy and Snape.'_

"You hate me?" Draco asked with a soft whimper.

"No not really," Harry sighed while squeezing the bridge of his nose. "I was still playing the part of the Gryffindor Golden Boy, but you also cannot deny that you didn't deserve it – either of you."

Draco sighed and nodded.

_'Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas,' said Hagrid. 'Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat.'_

_So the three of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations._

_'Ah, Hagrid, the last tree - put it in the far corner, would you?'_

_The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles._

"Nothing beats the Great Hall at Christmas time," Harry stated in a dreamy tone that put even Luna to shame. "It's absolutely amazing. Everything is so clean and fresh.

"Next Yule he will be coming home with us to the Manor and we will show him what a REAL celebration is like," Narcissa hissed to Lucius.

"I agree," he whispered calmingly, "and those closest to him will be invited as well, of course."

_'How many days you got left until yer holidays?' Hagrid asked._

_'Just one,' said Hermione. 'And that reminds me - Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library.'_

"A bit keen weren't you?" Blaise asked, looking at Hermione incredulously.

"Any time is a good time to go to the library," Hermione stated firmly, daring anyone to comment otherwise with her glare.

_'Oh yeah, you're right,' said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree._

_'The library?' said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. 'Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?'_

_'Oh, we're not working,' Harry told him brightly. 'Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is.'_

"And there is the Gryffindor again," Severus stated dryly.

"Actually, that is the easiest way to manipulate him. If you just seemingly blurt information out then he doesn't it without thinking – unless the name 'Harry' is mentioned," Neville pointed out conversationally.

"Interesting," Severus mussed.

_'You what?' Hagrid looked shocked. 'Listen here - I've told yeh - drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'.'_

_'We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all,' said Hermione._

_'Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?' Harry added. 'We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere - just give us a hint - I know I've read his name somewhere.'_

_'I'm sayin' nothin',' said Hagrid flatly._

_'Just have to find out for ourselves, then,' said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library._

Everyone laughed at the mental sight of Hagrid scratching his head and looking after them in shock.

_They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal?_

_The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book._

_He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry._

_And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows._

"When you are looking for something without any guidance the number of books can be daunting," Lucius said in commiseration.

_Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random._

_Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one._

Harry smirked.

"I really do not like that look on Harry's face," Pansy murmured. "Why has he got that look on his face?"

"Harry no longer needs to have a teacher's permission to use the Restricted Section," Neville said with a small smirk.

"WHAT!" Lucius, Severus and Tom yelped.

"Me to know," Harry announced in a sing-song voice.

_These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts._

'What are you looking for, boy?'

'Nothing,' said Harry.

Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him. 'You'd better get out, then. Go on - out!'

Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry left the library.

"I was happy to get out of there!" Harry scoffed. "No offense 'Mione, but I can't stand going to the library when Ron is around. If he didn't shut up I would have silenced him myself!"

"I know Harry. I also know that you like to get in and get out. Not stay for hours on end like I do."

_He, Ron, and Hermione had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to._

"You really thought it was Sev didn't you?" Narcissa asked curiously.

"Forgetting that you've known him since the time of the dinosaurs, wouldn't have you?" Harry replied with his eyebrows raised.

"You've got us there," Lucius chuckled, trying – and succeeding in keeping his wife from being indignant at the teen's roundabout way of say that she was old. "He does seem the type doesn't he?"

_Harry waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything, but he wasn't very hopeful. They had been looking for two weeks, after all, but as they only had odd moments between lessons it wasn't surprising they'd found nothing. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks._

_Five minutes later, Ron and Hermione joined him, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch._

_'You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?' said Hermione._

_'And send me an owl if you find anything.'_

_'And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is,' said Ron. 'It'd be safe to ask them.'_

Tom looked between Harry and Hermione incredulously. "Did he forget that the people he was talking about were muggle?

We are talking about someone who forgets which bed is his – even with his trunk and Chudley Cannon posters in plain view," Neville said dryly. It was normally his or Harry's bed that he stole and neither of them wished to touch anything on Ronald Weasley's bed – they didn't know what he got up to in it in the middle of the night.

Tom looked at Neville with a very disturbed look on his face. What the hell were people teaching their kids these days?

_'Very safe, as they're both dentists,' said Hermione._

_Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel._

_They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire._

"Is that how we got them seats?" Hermione asked, completely ignoring the fact that the two of them hadn't looked, making those that didn't know her as well look at her in confusion.

"No," Harry chuckled. "The twins cursed them and no one was brave enough to sit in them. I got away with it because I had the counter since I was the one who gave them the idea in the first place."

Hermione just shook her head and chuckled.

_They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork - bread, English muffins, marshmallows - and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work._

"He doesn't like me," Draco whimpered.

"What do you expect with how you treated him?" Narcissa said tersely.

Draco stood up and started to leave the room before Harry reached out and grabbed him, pulling him onto his lap.

"Teddy!"

Everyone looked at Harry who was holding and snuggling into a blushing Draco who just sighed in resignation after a few minutes when it became obvious that Harry wasn't going to let him go any time soon.

Lucius shook his head. It looked like his son's Veela side was coming out faster than he had thought. This was going to be a long day.

_Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess._

_This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family - in this case, his grandfather. _

_However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted._

_Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing._

_'Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him; we can afford to lose him.'_

"Personally I think that they just took on too much of Seamus' personality," Harry said with a shrug.

_On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all._

_When he woke early in the morning, however, the first thing he saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed._

_'Happy Christmas,' said Ron sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe._

_'You, too,' said Harry. 'Will you look at this? I've got some presents!'_

_'What did you expect, turnips?'_

"What an insensitive bastard!" Blaise hissed, enraged over the blatant sign of abuse that the red-head had just ignored.

_said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry's._

_Harry picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it - it sounded a bit like an owl._

"I still have it," Harry whispered into Draco's ear, making him shiver slightly. "I'm getting VERY good at it."

_A second, very small parcel contained a note._

_We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece._

Everyone who had knowledge of the muggle monetary system scowled deeply at the book.

_'That's friendly,' said Harry._

"Only you would say that Harry," Hermione sighed sadly, looking more than a little depressed.

_Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence._

_'Weird!' he said, 'What a shape! This is money?'_

_'You can keep it,' said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was._

"That was nice of you," Draco said in a small voice from his place on Harry's lap.

"Not really," Harry whispered back, only just loud enough for everyone to hear his words, "I have so much more money than they do. The least I could do was donate something to charity."

Luna, Lucius, Severus and Pansy all let out startled laughter, not expecting those words to come from Harry's mouth.

_'Hagrid and my aunt and uncle - so who sent these?'_

_'I think I know who that one's from,' said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. 'My mum. I told her you didn't expect any presents and - oh, no,' he groaned, 'she's made you a Weasley sweater.'_

"Does he always complain about stuff like that?" Narcissa asked, disapproval in her voice.

"Yes," Harry, Luna, Hermione and Neville said, loathing in their voices. "He's an ungrateful little basket!"

Pansy sniggered at the four.

_Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge._

_'Every year she makes us a sweater,' said Ron, unwrapping his own, 'and mine's always maroon.'_

_'That's really nice of her,' said Harry, trying the fudge, which was very tasty._

"Harry's tastes better," Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused. Harry just rolled his eyes.

"Can you make me some? I love Fudge," Draco said.

"Meaning the confection or the person?" Harry asked teasingly.

Draco turned green. "The confection, of course." He thought of the man and shuddered. "Eww!"

_His next present also contained candy - a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione._

_This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it._

_Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds._

_Ron gasped._

_'I've heard of those,' he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione._

_'If that's what I think it is - they're really rare, and really valuable.'_

_'What is it?'_

_Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material._

Draco, Blaise and Pansy felt their jaws drop.

"Is that what I think it is?" Tom asked almost reverently.

"Most probably," Harry said with a smirk.

_'It's an invisibility cloak,' said Ron, a look of awe on his face. 'I'm sure it is - try it on.'_

_Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell._

_'It is! Look down!'_

_Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible._

_He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely._

"No wonder I never was able to catch you out of bed. You always wear that thing," Severus half-sneered.

"Actually, I only use it if I have to," Harry admitted sheepishly. "I don[t really need to use an invisibility clock to go unnoticed."

Severus looked at the sheepish teen before him and blinked at this.

_'There's a note!' said Ron suddenly. 'A note fell out of it!'_

_Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words:_

_Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you._

_Use it well._

_A Very Happy Christmas to you._

"Dumbledore!" everyone in the room growled.

_There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak._

_'I'd give anything for one of these,' he said._

"That includes his own family," Luna spat, hatred visible in every visible line of her body.

_'Anything. What's the matter?'_

_'Nothing,' said Harry. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father?_

_Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else yet._

_'Happy Christmas!'_

_'Hey, look - Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!' Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G._

"Bet you don't know who was wearing which," Harry asked cheekily causing Hermione, Neville and Luna to roll their eyes good naturedly at him.

_'Harry's is better than ours, though,' said Fred, holding up Harry's sweater. 'She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family.'_

_'Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?' George demanded. 'Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm.'_

_'I hate maroon,' Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head._

_'You haven't got a letter on yours,' George observed. 'I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge.'_

_'What's all this noise?'_

"Ah! I was wondering when the arse wipe would turn up. He can't even keep his girlfriend satisfied!" Harry giggled, eyes moving around the room as though they were following something.

Hermione groaned. "Oh gods no, not this again!"

"What?" Tom asked worriedly, not that he would admit it if anyone were to ask him.

"He's tracking the dust in the air as it floats around. He does it sometimes when he's either hyperactive or exhausted," Luna filled the new-comers in. "Last time he was asked he started going on about the dust bunnies trying to get into his head to eat his brains." She giggled softly, "Then he started to bawl because if they aimed for him, they would starve because they wouldn't find anything to eat in his head because his head is a vacuum – anything that gets in is lost forever."

Severus snorted in amusement as the boy blushed and hid his face in Draco's back.

Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving.

"Wow, he was a prick," Lucius blinked.

"We told you so," Neville, Hermione and Harry chorused.

_He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized._

_'P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one.'_

_'I - don't - want -' said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew._

_'And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either,' said George. 'Christmas is a time for family.'_

_They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater._

Harry cackled madly in his seat, finally letting Draco go so he could rub his hands together gleefully. "He stood no chance!"

Severus looked away from the sight with a shudder of fear going down his spine.

Harry had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce

"That was the first meal that he managed to eat a decent portion and not throw up afterwards," Neville said with a small smile at the memory.

"And how do you know that?" Blaise asked, narrowing his eyes at the teen.

Neville grinned at the dark-skinned boy. "I had Nick watching over him."

"Oh," Blaise blushed.

_- and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table._

These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice.

"Which Mrs Norris ate for her supper," Harry said in a tone that was way too happy for the situation.

Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet,

"I KNEW HE WAS GAY!" Tom vaulted out of his chair and pointed at the book.

Harry raised both eyebrows and looked at him. "Your point?"

Tom pouted and slowly sat back down, missing the smug look on Harry's face as he did so.

_and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him._

_Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice._

_Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harry's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided._

Tom growled, his eyes flashing red for just a moment.

"Jealous much?" Harry asked him with a smirk.

Tom hissed at him, making Harry's smirk deepen.

_When Harry finally left the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of nonexplodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Harry had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris's Christmas dinner._

"Told ya, told ya!" Harry said, bouncing in his seat."And Trelawny thinks I suck at divination!"

Hermione and Luna exchanged looks and then pat Harry on his head saying, 'good boy' while he preened under their attentions.

Everyone else in the room had to look away and hide their sniggers from the three of them.

_Harry and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds._

_Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much._

"Gods, he was an idiot wasn't he?" Blaise said, looking at the book as though it were crazy.

"Tell us about it," Harry and Hermione groaned.

_After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge._

_It had been Harry's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it: the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it._

"You forgot all about it for the entire day?" Pansy asked, looking at Harry as though she had never seen him before.

"Yes," Harry said drawing out the word.

"You truly are an interesting character, aren't you" Lucius stated, blinking at the boy.

Harry smirked, "One of a kind."

"Praise Merlin for that!" Hermione, Luna and Neville shouted at the still smirking teen.

_Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his four-poster. Harry leaned over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak out from under it._

_His father's… this had been his father's. He let the material flow over his hands, smoother than silk, light as air. Use it well, the note had said._

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Narcissa said, tightening her grip on her husband's hand.

"Same here, 'Cissa," Severus said, wincing for his friend. The blonde female had quite a strong grip for one who looked so delicate.

_He had to try it, now. He slipped out of bed and wrapped the cloak around himself. Looking down at his legs, he saw only moonlight and shadows. It was a very funny feeling._

_Use it well._

_Suddenly, Harry felt wide-awake. The whole of Hogwarts was open to him in this cloak. Excitement flooded through him as he stood there in the dark and silence. He could go anywhere in this, anywhere, and Filch would never know._

_Ron grunted in his sleep. Should Harry wake him? Something held him back - his father's cloak - he felt that this time - the first time - he wanted to use it alone._

"I know what you were feeling," Tom said with a sad, soft smile.

"I think I would have taken Neville had he been there, but not anyone else," Harry said with the same small smile as Tom.

_He crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole._

_'Who's there?' squawked the Fat Lady. Harry said nothing. He walked quickly down the corridor._

_Where should he go? He stopped, his heart racing, and thought. And then it came to him. The Restricted Section in the library._

_He'd be able to read as long as he liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was._

_He set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around him as he walked._

_The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Harry lit a lamp to see his way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as if it was floating along in midair, and even though Harry could feel his arm supporting it, the sight gave him the creeps._

Harry laughed. "I thought that it was seeing my hand but no arm that was giving me that feeling, but it was really Aldron. He was behind me the entire night – even though I didn't realise it until I was in bed." He shared a smirk with Luna, making everyone shudder.

_The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, he held up his lamp to read the titles._

_They didn't tell him much. Their peeling faded gold letters spelled words in languages Harry couldn't understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood._

"It was," Harry said unnecessarily.

_The hairs on the back of Harry's neck prickled. Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn't be._

"That was Aldron," Harry chuckled

Luna giggled. "Yes, he does get that way on occasion, doesn't he?"

Harry let out a full bodied laugh that had his eyes shining with light. "That he does, Luna Dear. That he does."

_He had to start somewhere. Setting the lamp down carefully on the floor, he looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting looking book. A large black and silver volume caught his eye. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open._

_A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence - the book was screaming!_

"You could get the book to open?" Severus asked in shock as Tom, Lucius and Narcissa looked at him in shock.

"Yeah, why?"

"Harry, the protections that are on those books prevent students without permission from even opening them," Severus explained.

Harry and Luna looked at each other and smirked.

"What was that look for?" Lucius asked hesitantly.

"You will see … Perhaps," Harry and Luna stated.

_Harry snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, earsplitting note. He stumbled backward and knocked over his lamp, which went out at once. Panicking, he heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside - stuffing the shrieking book back on the shelf, he ran for it. He passed Filch in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through him, and Harry slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, the book's shrieks still ringing in his ears._

Lucius chuckled. "I bet it was."

_He came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armor. He had been so busy getting away from the library, he hadn't paid attention to where he was going. Perhaps because it was dark, he didn't recognize where he was at all. There was a suit of armor near the kitchens, he knew, but he must be five floors above there._

_'You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library Restricted Section.'_

_Harry felt the blood drain out of his face. Wherever he was, Filch must know a shortcut, because his soft, greasy voice was getting nearer, and to his horror, it was Snape who replied, 'The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them.'_

"You were within arm's reach and I didn't find you?" Severus groaned.

"Yep!" Harry chirruped, popping the 'P'.

"Infuriating, isn't it?" Tom asked, thoroughly enjoying the fact that it was someone else in that predicament and not him.

"YES!" Lucius and Draco shouted, both having experienced it while going against Harry.

Harry smirked at the three of them before blowing them all a kiss.

_Harry stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape came around the corner ahead. They couldn't see him, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into him - the cloak didn't stop him from being solid._

_He backed away as quietly as he could. A door stood ajar to his left._

Severus frowned thoughtfully.

_It was his only hope._

_He squeezed through it, holding his breath, trying not to move it, and to his relief he managed to get inside the room without their noticing anything. They walked straight past, and Harry leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away. That had been close, very close. It was a few seconds before he noticed anything about the room he had hidden in._

"Are you alright Sev?" Narcissa asked softly as she noticed the look on his face.

"There was no room there," Severus stated, examining his memories.

A fast, almost angry sounding chime filled the room causing Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville to laugh.

"What?" Pansy asked in confusion.

"Elise just said that if he thought that she'd let him sharpen his claws on HER boy, then it is no wonder you weren't in Ravenclaw," Hermione giggled.

Severus blushed deeply and looked at the floor.

_It looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket - but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way._

_It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

"What an odd thing to have written on a mirror," Blaise stated.

"Read it backwards," Harry ordered with a roll of his eyes.

Draco frowned. "Ish … No. I show n-not yo-ur face but your he-hearts Desire!"

"Bravo!" Harry cheered from his seat with exaggerated applause. "Give the boy a medal!" Harry calmed quite quickly. "Allow me to introduce you to the Mirror of Erised."

"No wonder the idiot couldn't get to it," Tom murmured just loud enough for Harry to hear, who giggled and stuck his tongue out at the ex-Dark Lord.

_His panic fading now that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Harry moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at himself but see no reflection again._

_He stepped in front of it._

_He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself from screaming._

_He whirled around. His heart was pounding far more furiously than when the book had screamed - for he had seen not only himself in the mirror, but a whole crowd of people standing right behind him._

_But the room was empty. Breathing very fast, he turned slowly back to the mirror._

_There he was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind him, were at least ten others. Harry looked over his shoulder - but still, no one was there. Or were they all invisible, too? Was he in fact in a room full of invisible people and this mirror's trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not?_

_He looked in the mirror again. A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling at him and waving._

_He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air - she and the others existed only in the mirror._

"Oh Harry," Hermione sobbed softly, only just stopping herself from throwing herself at him.

Neville and Luna looked at Harry with sad, yet understanding smiles of their faces.

"What's up with them?" Blaise whispered to Draco and Pansy. Both of them shrugged in answer.

_She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes -her eyes are just like mine, Harry thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green - exactly the same shape, but then he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time._

"She was the sweetest person," Severus said softly, a lone tear rolling down his cheek. "She and I lived in the same neighbourhood when we were children. We met and became friends when we were eight years of age. We were like the four of you," he said, glancing at Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville. "At least, we were until the incident that you watched in the pensieve. I always regretted saying that to her, and I will continue to do so until the very day that I die and can beg for her forgiveness.

"If she's anything like what I've heard Sev, she'll forgive you," Harry said softly, looking up at the ceiling with a slight smile on his lips. "In fact, I would go so far as to say that she already has."

Severus closed his eyes as another tear fell before throwing himself at Harry and crying silently into Harry's shirt. Tom, Lucius and Narcissa exchanged understanding and slightly guilty looks while Draco gasped in understanding.

_The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry's did._

Pansy gasped in understanding at that point and Hermione sobbed harder. A dry-eyed Harry just hugged Severus tighter to him as the older man let out a strangled sob, sounding as though someone was tearing his heart apart piece by piece as he thought about his first – and truest – friend.

_Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection._

_'Mum?' he whispered. 'Dad?'_

Luna allowed a single red tear fall down her cheek, crying for the people that Harry couldn't.

"Oh … they are your parents …" Blaise whispered sadly

"Yeah," Harry said softly as he half-crooned to comfort his family. "First time I'd ever seen them. It was a bit of a shock at first."

"I'm really sorry Harry. I truly am. If I had known then what I know now …"Tom stuttered softly. Narcissa had, by this time, buried her face into Lucius' shoulder and was shedding silent tears.

"You don't need to apologise Tom. You and they were on opposite sides of the war. It's a fact that people die in war. You weren't the one who put me with the Dursleys. You weren't the one who refused to tell me anything true about my parents. It wasn't because of you that I grew up not knowing how sweet my mother was, or how bad her temper could be. Or how arrogant my father was – or how cruel he could get while calling it fun," Harry said, voice steady and eyes clear. He gently squeezed the back of Severus' neck as the man took deep breaths to calm himself.

_They just looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his, even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees - Harry was looking at his family, for the first time in his life._

Hermione gave up her fight to stay away from Harry and threw herself into his unoccupied shoulder. Harry only just managed to catch her with one arm.

"Shh, honey, shh. It's okay," he whispered into her hair, rocking her – and by extension, Severus.

"Isn't he the one who is supposed to be getting the comfort, not giving the comfort?" Blaise whispered.

"He won't break until he is alone with Aldron as he is the only being who is capable of helping him when he loses all control. It's hard enough for us to contain it when Harry is angry at someone in our defence we won't even touch him when he gets depressed," Neville said, watching the three of them sadly.

"Last time one of us tried, they were thrown magically off the astronomy tower," Luna explained with a wince and a grimace. "I don't want to know what would have happened had it been either Neville or Hermione who it happened to. As it was, I was still forbidden to even move in my bed let alone from it, for a week."

"And had to put up with a guilt-ridden, apologetic Harry for the entire time," Neville said with a slight smile on his face.

"I think that was worse than needing to stay still for the entire two weeks," Luna grimaced. "He insisted on not only feeding me, but cleaning and changing me with his magic so he wouldn't see me naked in fear of dishonouring both me and my intended."

Everyone other than the three who were still rocking on the sofa grimaced with her. That sounded horrible.

_The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness._

"I still get that feeling when I think of it," Harry said with a heavy exhale. "So I just generally don't think of it," he continued with a really well maintained fake grin. Sobering quickly, he turned to Severus who, while no longer sobbing, had not moved his face from its place hidden in the junction of Harry's neck and shoulder. "Are you going to be alright Professor?"

Severus chuckled wetly and finally moved his head. "Considering I just made your shirt wet with my Hufflepuff tendencies, I think you should stop with the 'Sir' and 'Professor'."

"Thank you Severus," Harry said with a bow that was acceptable for one Lord to give to another. Hermione, Luna and Neville shook their heads while everyone else watched in amusement, confusion or disbelief.

_How long he stood there, he didn't know. The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. He couldn't stay here, he had to find his way back to bed. He tore his eyes away from his mother's face, whispered, 'I'll come back,' and hurried from the room._

"I am, and always will be thankful to you for that Elise," Harry said with heart-felt emotion in both his voice and his eyes.

"Why?" Pansy asked.

"The Mirror of Erised has been known to drive people insane," Harry explained, his eyes finding and holding her curious blue ones. "Anyone who gets caught up in the image in the mirror will not eat, drink or sleep until they waste away to nothing."

Everyone in the room paled and looked suspiciously at anything with a reflective surface while Harry tried his hardest to not laugh at them, and succeeding in limiting it to a twitch of his lips.

_'You could have woken me up,' said Ron, crossly._

Everyone in the room groaned as the tension in the room rose at the sound of his name.

"Not him again," Draco muttered from his seat. He was enjoying a Weasel-free period.

"Now I know why he never took Arithmancy," Neville groaned. "I am horrible at it, but even I can tell that having a family heirloom plus never knowing said family plus first time use equals using it alone."

_'You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror.'_

_'I'd like to see your mum and dad,' Ron said eagerly._

_'And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone.'_

"I know, I know. More of those Gryffindor tendencies," Harry stated before anyone else could say anything.

_'You can see them any old time,' said Ron. 'Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?'_

_Harry couldn't eat. He had seen his parents and would be seeing them again tonight._

"See what I was talking about?" Harry pointed out, continuing on from his explanation from before, not at all fazed about using himself as the example. "The mirror already had attached itself to my mind with the image. The stronger your desire for what the mirror reveals to you, the stronger the bind it has on your mind. At this point in time I wanted a family more than anything and I would have given anything to have one for five minutes – even my magic."

"And they had that thing here?" Narcissa asked, horrified at the thought of any child coming into contact with a magical artefact that had that much of an effect on someone.

"Not anymore," Harry said. "I moved it down to the Chamber, away from everyone in the school."

"Everyone but you," Lucius pointed out softly.

Harry shrugged. "I am immune to its power now for some reason. I look into the mirror and I see nothing, not even my reflection."

"That is impossible," Tom said in denial.

"Nothing is impossible for Harry," Hermione, Luna and Newville chorused.

_He had almost forgotten about Flamel. It didn't seem very important anymore. Who cared what the three headed dog was guarding? What did it matter if Snape stole it, really?_

"And that was the most obvious warning sign that something was wrong with him," Neville announced, while Draco, Blaise and Pansy gaped at Harry in shock. "Once Harry gets a thought in his head, nothing makes it move.

"You mean Harry thinks?" Tom, Lucius and Severus chorused without thinking, each getting a genuine grin from the lad.

_'Are you all right?' said Ron. 'You look odd.'_

_What Harry feared most was that he might not be able to find the mirror room again. With Ron covered in the cloak, too, they had to walk much more slowly the next night. They tried retracing Harry's route from the library, wandering around the dark passageways for nearly an hour._

_'I'm freezing, said Ron. 'Let's forget it and go back.'_

"Then you should have worn warmer clothing shouldn't have you you idiot?" Luna hissed icily, "Sook!"

_'No!' Harry hissed. 'I know it's here somewhere.'_

_They passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else. just as Ron started moaning that his feet were dead with cold_

"How in the world di you survive this long without killing him off?" Severus asked in disgust.

"Who said we didn't try?" Harry shot back, his nose wrinkled.

"I like this Harry!" Tom beamed.

"I do believe that we all do, my Lord," Lucius said with a smirk at the youngster.

"This is the real Harry Potter, so it is probably a good thing you like him this way," Luna stated dazedly, making Harry, Hermione and Neville smile at her indulgently.

Narcissa chuckled at the interaction between the four non-Slytherin Slytherins.

_Harry spotted the suit of armor._

_'It's here - just here - yes!'_

_They pushed the door open. Harry dropped the cloak from around his shoulders and ran to the mirror._

_There they were. His mother and father beamed at the sight of him._

_'See?' Harry whispered._

_'I can't see anything.'_

_'Look! Look at them all… there are loads of them…'_

_'I can only see you.'_

_'Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am.'_

Everyone in the room backed away at the pure malice that was evident on Harry's face. Almost hesitatingly, Hermione, Neville and Luna moved ato surround Harry with their bodies, trying to prevent him from lashing out in his anger.

_Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, he couldn't see his family anymore, just Ron in his paisley pajamas._

_Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image._

_'Look at me!' he said._

_'Can you see all your family standing around you?'_

_'No - I'm alone - but I'm different - I look older - and I'm head boy!'_

Tom, Severus and Lucius all hissed in anger at the boy as though he were in the room with them.

_'What?'_

_'I am - I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to - and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup - I'm Quidditch captain, too.'_

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Pansy shrieked, making everyone cover their ears at the volume. "THAT'S WHAT HIS HEARTS DESIRE WAS! Mine would have been my mum, dad, me and my older brother's together as a family again," she whispered brokenly, tears collecting in her eyes. "My mother has been in Azkaban since I was nine for something she didn't do and Karl moved out half way through my second year because he was against Father teaching me the pure-blood traditions."

Harry stood from his place and walked over to her, collecting her in his arms and hugging her firmly. "Don't worry. When we take over, the first thing that will be happening is a complete and utter re-haul of everything. Every single person in Azkaban will be re-tried and Azkaban will be cleaned and the standard will be increased. Yes, it is a prison but that is no reason for prisoners to not have the basics of comfort. You wouldn't put a dog or cat into a cage with no proper food, toilet area or bedding, so why do so with humans?" Harry said loud enough for everyone to hear, including Pansy through her sobs. "It will be mandatory to use veriteserum in all trials and everyone will get a trail. Dementors will be restricted to the deepest reaches of the building and will be allowed at murders, child molesters and other individuals in only special circumstances."

"All records in the Ministry will be looked over and re-filed. All ministry employee will be investigated before being allowed to re-apply for their jobs and their application will need to be accepted by three-quarters of the panel," Harry continued after taking a few deep swallows of the tea that just randomly appeared beside him. "The same with Hogwarts."

"How long have you been planning on taking over the world?" Lucius half-joked, raising an eyebrow.

"Three years, eight months, two weeks, six days, thirteen hours, fifty-five minutes and forty nanoseconds," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused without hesitation making Lucius blink in shock.

"Wow …" he managed to breath out.

"And just how were you planning on taking over?" Severus asked, crossing his arms and leaning back, examining the four of them critically.

"First I was going to get rid of Dumpy," Harry began, sitting straight and slightly forward in Severus' direction, "and install Minnie into his position with either you, Severus, or Professor Sprout as her Deputy. Then I would install Neville into St Mungos. He'll have no problem with obtaining a position of some power there as he has been getting trained by Madam Louisa Frankestra – who is the world's best Healer and Medic at the present time. Once he is situated, he will put forward aplea to allow Healers to use the killing curse to put patients who are dying slow, painful deaths or who are brain-dead out of their misery as a mercy killing, this would then push forward an inquest into dark magic, what makes them dark and what they were originally for. Hermione, who is to become Minister of Magic, will make sure that this is done and done correctly. I would have people I trust in the top positions in the United Nations. Luna will be a drifter and will drift between the three of them helping where she can, as will I."

"That wouldn't work," Lucius stated as Harry took another drink. "How would Miss Granger get the position of Minister in the first place?"

Harry grinned. "She works for it, of course. She gets a job in the Ministry and she works her way up through the ranks. With her work ethic and dedication, it will be only a matter of a few years for her to get to a high position and while she is in the Ministry as an under-worker, she can start to plant ideas into the heads of all the right people – Madam Bones, for instance – to get our larger plans into fruition. Then when it comes time for her to run as Minister, I will back her. With the stigma that comes with the Titles 'Boy-Who-Lived' and Lord Potter and Lord Black, only those who are truly against me will vote against her – and as I will be using the time between the war and this time to help restore the wizarding world to its former glory …" Harry trailed off with a smirk.

"Brilliant!" Tom exclaimed, "Truly a Slytherin way of going about it."

"I try," Harry stated, acting coy.

_Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry._

_'Do you think this mirror shows the future?'_

"What an IDIOT!" Blaise, Draco and Pansy growled, all rubbing a various place on their heads to stave off obtaining a tension headache from the red-head.

"He never did know how to use the brain he has. Pity, because he was wonderful at strategizing … well … at least in chess he was," Harry sighed.

_'How can it? All my family are dead - let me have another look -'_

_'You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time.'_

_'You're only holding the Quidditch cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents.'_

Severus, Draco, Pansy and Blaise looked at Harry with wide eyes. "You wanted to know what was so interesting about the Quidditch Cup?"

Harry stuck his chin out mulishly. "I stand by what I said that night. Compared to having a family that loves and supports you, Quidditch is unimportant. Always has been, always will be.

"Can I join that family?" Tom muttered, looking at the four students with slight longing.

"If you are serious about joining our family, come talk to me before bed. We'll have to come up with some way of finishing this stupid war without incriminating you as being you …" Harry turned thoughtful and everyone else just looked at him in shock.

'We really should be used to the brat and his way of looking at the world,' Severus thought as he struggled to control his facial expressions.

_'Don't push me -'_

_A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to their discussion._

_They hadn't realized how loudly they had been talking._

Everyone rolled their eyes at the two boys' actions.

"I know it was selfish of me, but I honestly don't see what could be so interesting about a badge and an empty cup," Harry explained.

_'Quick!'_

_Ron threw the cloak back over them as the luminous eyes of Mrs. Norris came round the door. Ron and Harry stood quite still, both thinking the same thing - did the cloak work on cats?_

"No it doesn't," Harry pouted then he grinned widely, "but catnip mice do!"

"You didn't," Luna and Neville groaned. Harry just grinned at them.

"He did," Hermione replied with a groan.

"Did what?" Narcissa asked.

"He gave Mrs Norris catnip," Hermione, Neville and Luna growled.

"The normal strength one or the super strength one you gave Minerva?" Severus asked Harry with a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"The super strength one," Harry chirruped before giving a pouting frown. "And now she won't leave me alone! Every time she sees me, she runs up to me yowling for more."

"Give her some slack Harry," Neville said with a sly grin. "She isn't the first female that has fallen for your charms."

"Oh, do tell!" Lucius said with a smirk.

"Well, there's Ginny, Cho …" Neville started off, grinning at a bright red Harry.

"Mrs Norris is an obvious one as well," Luna added with her own grin.

"Professor McGonagall too," Hermione teased.

"And the one none of us can forget …" Neville began with a shit-eaters grin on his face.

"Moaning Myrtle!" Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused with loud laughter.

"Please don't remind me! Harry groaned and buried his face into his arms. "I refuse to go anywhere near water when Peeves isn't within twenty metres of me now! She's a gods-be-trice damned stalker!"

Tom laughed loudly, making everyone look at him in question. "I see she's got a new target for her obsession," he chuckled.

_After what seemed an age, she turned and left._

_'This isn't safe - she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on.'_

_And Ron pulled Harry out of the room._

"Sounds like the first smart thing he's ever done," Tom said.

"It was," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville stated in a no-nonsense way.

_The snow still hadn't melted the next morning._

_'Want to play chess, Harry?' said Ron._

_'No.'_

_'Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?'_

_'No… you go…'_

_'I know what you're thinking about, Harry, that mirror. Don't go back tonight.'_

_'Why not?'_

_'I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it - and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are wandering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?'_

"And has that ever stopped any of you before?" Severus snorted.

"Um … let me think … NEVER!" Harry yelled then giggled.

"BRAT!" Severus, Tom, Hermione, Luna and Neville shouted at the still giggling teen, who just grinned unrepentantly at them.

_'You sound like Hermione.'_

"HEY!" Hermione shouted, insulted.

_'I'm serious, Harry, don't go.'_

_But Harry only had one thought in his head, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn't going to stop him._

"It was starting to affect you, wasn't it?" Tom asked softly, looking at Harry with well concealed worry.

"Yeah, it was," Harry answered just as soft, moving so he could bring his knees up to his chest and hug them. "I just so badly wanted to see the family that loved me that I allowed it to invade my heart, mind and soul."

_That third night he found his way more quickly than before. He was walking so fast he knew he was making more noise than was wise, but he didn't meet anyone._

_And there were his mother and father smiling at him again, and one of his grandfathers nodding happily. Harry sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror. There was nothing to stop him from staying here all night with his family. Nothing at all._

_Except -_

_'So - back again, Harry?'_

"Dumbledore!" everyone in the room hissed.

_Harry felt as though his insides had turned to ice. He looked behind him. Sitting on one of the desks by the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore. Harry must have walked straight past him, so desperate to get to the mirror he hadn't noticed him._

_'I - I didn't see you, sir.'_

_'Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you,' said Dumbledore, and Harry was relieved to see that he was smiling._

"Of course he was smiling!" Harry hissed. "I was finally in his grasp! ~Bet hisss dick is ssso ssmall he needsss pepper and a magnifying glassss to sssee it!~"

Tom stared to laugh as what Harry had just hissed hit his brain. Everyone watched in intrigue as he laughed long enough and hard enough to fall off of his own chair.

_'So,' said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk to sit on the floor with Harry, 'you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised.'_

_'I didn't know it was called that, Sir.'_

_'But I expect you've realized by now what it does?'_

_'It - well - it shows me my family -'_

_'And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy.'_

_'How did you know -?'_

_'I don't need a cloak to become invisible,' said Dumbledore gently._

"I wonder if the bathrooms are spelled against that – If not then I am never going to use one without my sneakoscope ever again!" Harry spat spitefully.

"He wouldn't …" Pansy began her face paler than Harry had ever seen it.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Harry continued to spit.

"I'm sure that he wouldn't do anything like that," Lucius stated, exchanging extremely worried glances with the other adults in the room.

_'Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?'_

_Harry shook his head._

_'Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?'_

_Harry thought. Then he said slowly, 'It shows us what we want… whatever we want…'_

_'Yes and no,' said Dumbledore quietly. 'It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them._

"Which he isn't," Hermione snapped, laying a hand across her stomach.

_However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible._

"Yeah, can't have that happen to your weapon now can you?" Harry asked the book with excessive bitterness.

_The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that._

_Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?'_

_Harry stood up._

_'Sir - Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?'_

Harry smirked once more.

"What did you do this time?" Tom groaned. He swore he could feel his hair as it turned grey with stress from the kid.

Harry just grinned madly

_'Obviously, you've just done so,' Dumbledore smiled._

_'You may ask me one more thing, however.'_

_'What do you see when you look in the mirror?'_

"That was a personnel question, Harry James Potter!" Hermione and Luna shrieked.

"I know," Harry shrugged.

_'I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.'_

_Harry stared._

_'One can never have enough socks,' said Dumbledore. 'Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.'_

"Actually, he sees himself with his lover when they were together. It is a pity that he had to defeat him actually. Apparently they made a cute couple," Harry said with a stretch.

Severus, Tom and Hermione looked at Harry in shock while everyone else's jaws dropped.

"Oh! Didn't you know Dumpy and Grindylow …" Harry started.

"Grindewald, Harry. Honestly!" Hermione huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Harry rolled his eyes at her. "Whatever … didn't you know that they were together?" When everyone just stared at Harry without saying anything, he rubbed the top of his head in embarrassment. "Oops. My mistake."

_It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, he thought, as he shoved Scabbers off his pillow, it had been quite a personal question._

Harry shocked everyone by bursting into laughter.

"And what is so funny about that?" Severus grumbled, he wanted to get up and move around damn it!

"Sorry," Harry gasped. "I just realised – Ron was sleeping in the same bed as Scabbers – AKA Peter Pettigrew – all year.

Everyone turned green. "That is so not funny!" they yelled.

"But it is," Harry giggled. "The traitor was sleeping with the traitor … or the traitor owned the traitor."

Lucius blinked at him with slight fear in his eyes. "He's snapped!" he wimpered. "He's completely lost it."

Neville stood and pat Lucius on the shoulder as he walked past him and towards the bathroom. "Don't worry. It'll pass in a while."

"How long is a while?" Severus asked, watching Harry with wide eyes as he stood nose-to-nose with the Dark Lord and start poking him on the forehead.

"Anywhere from half an hour to a month," Neville stated, closing the door behind him. Severus and Lucius froze then turned to each other and exchanged horrified looks. This did not bode well for them.

In the bathroom, Neville smirked when he heard a shriek come from who he assumed was the Malfoy Lord. He started cackling with laughter when he heard Hermione and Luna in the background yelling:

"Bad Harry! Put the pretty blonde man down! We mean it! Put him down now or there will be no chocolate covered blood pops after dinner!"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

When Neville had finally calmed down and left the bathroom, everyone in the room had vanished expect for a pouting Harry who, he was amused to see, had been stuck to a chair using spell-o-tape and a clear plastic-type wrap was wrapped around his mouth. Sighing at the sight of tears in the other teen's eyes, Neville removed the magical wrap the twins had created from Harry's mouth and only just managed to conjure a bucket in time for the items that had been in his mouth to not hit the floor.

"Neville, I think I'm going to be sick," Harry sobbed.

"Shhh," Neville soothed, running a hand through the black hair comfortingly. "Let me get this tape off you and you tell me what happened." Slowly Harry managed to tell Neville everything and by the end of it, he was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ok. I will deal with this. You just stay here and keep calm. After we get out of here though, you ARE going to allow me to do a full physical on you WITHOUT complaint – do you understand me?"

"Yes Neville," Harry said in a small voice.

Neville sighed. "We really need to discover what kind of creature you are and soon. There's no telling what damage you are doing to yourself by abstaining from scratching that itch of yours. It could also be the reason that you are extreme with your behaviour lately."

Harry nodded, head still bowed. Neville sighed internally and gently ran his hand through the black hair once more.

"Now, I'm going to go put the fear of Merlin into two female members of our family. You just curl up here and have a nap, ok?"

Harry curled up one the one-seater lounge with a yawn and was asleep before Neville even left the room.

Once Neville got to the doorway into the kitchen, he stopped and gave everyone a hard look, arms crossed over his chest. "Why," he started, causing everyone in the room to go silent and look at him in shock at the sternness of his voice, "did I find our Family Head stuck to a chair with rotten egg and vomit Every Flavour Beans in his mouth with it being stuck closed with magic wrap?"

No one answered him, just exchanging looks while Tom, Severus and Narcissa crossed their arms and raised their eyebrows in question. Neville assumed – correctly, mind you – that the three of them didn't know what had happened to the teen.

"I am waiting," he said. "You and Hermione should know better Luna," he continued on fiercely. "The two of you know that he has a slight allergy to something in the beans which is why he doesn't even eat the blood flavoured ones. If I hadn't noticed that he was on the verge of bawling his eyes out, I wouldn't have freed his mouth in time for him to get rid of the ones he had in his mouth and he would have ended up throwing up without a way to get it out of his body. That would mean that everyone in this room that knew about this would be guilty of murder!"

Luna and Hermione looked ashamed as Neville pointed out this forgotten fact and both girls, as well as Lucius, Pansy, Blaise and Draco flinched when they realised how badly it could have turned out.

"I want to know why the HELL you would do such a thing - particularly because his behaviour is most likely your fault, Hermione."

"What? How is it my fault?" Hermione fumed slightly.

"When was the last time Harry acted like this?" Neville asked as though talking to a five-year-old. "Come on Hermione, you are supposed to be the smartest witch of our age."

"It was …" Luna gasped and then gulped as it hit her.

Neville glared at the two girls as both of them paled. "My point exactly. The last time Harry's behaviour and emotions fluctuated like this was when Aldron was stuck in the Orient for three months and Harry had no one he could fuck. He's had plenty of opportunities this last three months, but he hasn't taken any of them because you have been a selfish twit who is determined to ruin his life the same way that yours has been ruined."

"What are you saying exactly Mr Longbottom?" Narcissa asked.

"What I'm saying Lady Malfoy, is that Harry uses sex to balance out his emotions and behaviour. It isn't just about reproduction to him, it is a necessity. We need to find out what his creature is so we can discover just how much damage has been done to him since he's gone this long without something he needs."

Tom frowned. "I have a possible explanation," he stated. "It fits into what I've seen so far, and it will explain what happened with you, Lucius … it's just proving it that is the problem."

"What is it?" Neville asked, almost pleading with the man.

"It is possible that he is descended from Satyr – or faun - stock. Obviously he isn't a half-goat, but it could be that his magic is so strong because the Satyr blood is slightly stronger in Harry than in previous members of the Potter family. It would be even stronger if his mother had a connection to a nymph of some kind."

Severus blinked and swore, making everyone stare at him in shock or surprise. "That does fit," he said when he had calmed slightly. "James Potter felt drawn to Lily from the moment he set eyes on her. If he did have some ancestral roots in Satyr stock then he would only feel that drawn to a female of Nymph stock. When I first met Lily's family, all I could think was that she must be adopted because the rest of her family was rather plain. I believed this until the summer at the end of fourth year. She and I were clearing out the attic and discovered some very old photo albums. Lily looked extraordinarily like her 7 times great grandmother but with different colouring. Where Lily had green eyes and red hair, her almost twin had silver-white hair and dark blue eyes."

"Water Nymph then," Narcissa muttered. "It seems we have found the answer to one of the mysteries that is Harry James Potter."

Severus groaned, "Do you know how much more trouble Harry will be to look after with this inheritance of his?"

"You've seemed to have forgotten that he's already had this inheritance for at least three years," Neville said grimly. "That means we need to find people we trust that don't mind being a 'bit on the side' so that Harry has someone close by to ground himself with. I'd say that within the 'family' the best bet would be the twins, but I don't think Harry would go for it since he basically blood adopted us all." He rubbed his temples in frustration. "That means a hell of a lot more problems for me to deal with. If you think your job of looking after him was bad Professor Snape, try being in my position for a day."

"No thank you," Snape said adamantly. "I've seen what you do and it would drive me into an insane asylum within an hour."

"Well, we should go back and continue with the next chapter. The week is almost up and I do want to finish this book before we have to deal with a homicidal Harry once again."

"You mean he isn't homicidal now?" Blaise murmured to Pansy as they stood.

Neville grinned. "Oh no, you haven't seen Harry as homicidal yet. He's the only person on school record that has managed to scare the Bloody Baron into silence without a single word passing his lips." He turned a glared at everyone in the room, ignoring all the looks of disbelief sent his way. "And if any of you – and I do mean any of you – wake Harry up, you will wish that you had been captured by Death Eaters at the pinnacle of the first Wizarding War, do you understand me?"

Everyone nodded and filed into the room. Everyone took a seat without saying a single word, even though Neville, Tom and Narcissa looked on in amusement as Lucius chose a seat that was not only furthest away from the sleeping teen, but also completely out of his line of sight.

"I guess it's my turn again," Blaise sighed reaching out for the book.

_Chapter 13 - Nicholas Flamel_

"Finally!" Hermione, Luna and Neville sighed in exasperation.

_Dumbledore had convinced Harry not to go looking for the Mirror of Erised again, and for the rest of the Christmas holidays the invisibility cloak stayed folded at the bottom of his trunk._

_Harry wished he could forget what he'd seen in the mirror as easily, but he couldn't. He started having nightmares._

"Nightmares?" Draco, Pansy and Blaise asked with a frown as they looked at the still dozing teen.

"You'll see," Neville responded sadly. It had been when he had returned from the Christmas Holidays at Longbottom Manor that he had discovered Harry's experiences with nightmares and he was ashamed of the fact that it had taken him so long to discover it in the first place.

_Over and over again he dreamed about his parents disappearing in a flash of green light, while a high voice cackled with laughter._

Tom winced when he heard that bit read out and he wasn't the only one. Once again, many people that were in the room were wondering just how Harry was holding it together so well when the people that had been responsible in making his life a living hell were in the same room as him.

_'You see, Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad,' said Ron, when Harry told him about these dreams._

_Hermione, who came back the day before term started, took a different view of things. She was torn between horror at the idea of Harry being out of bed,_

"Big surprise there," Neville, Luna, Blaise, Pansy and Draco chorused, rolling their eyes mockingly. Hermione scowled at them, not at all amused by their antics.

_roaming the school three nights in a row ('If Filch had caught you!'), and disappointment that he hadn't at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was._

Everyone laughed at that, quieting down when Harry moved and whimpered softly in his sleep, holding their breaths as they hoped that they hadn't woken him up. None of them wanted to get on Neville's bad side and Severus, Draco, Blaise and Pansy were only just beginning to understand how fiercely the clumsy, unconfident boy defended the one person who had accepted him as he was when he had been convinced that he was only just barely about Squib level.

_They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Harry was still sure he'd read the name somewhere. Once term had started, they were back to skimming through books for ten minutes during their breaks. Harry had even less time than the other two, because Quidditch practice had started again._

"Praises be to Merlin for small miracles," Harry murmured sleepily, his eyes still closed.

"Are you awake now Harry?" Neville asked softly with a small smile on his face.

"No, I'm in the middle of an odd dream. You, me, 'Mione and Luna are trapped in the Room of Requirement with Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Draco, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Voldemort – who's told me to call him Tom because he doesn't like Voldie for some reason – and Severus Snape without any of us killing anyone else."

"That's not a dream Harry," Neville said with a small smirk. "That's real life."

"Oh," Harry said then sighed. "Then I guess that I'm awake then," he yawned, stretching out. Neville just chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

_Wood was working the team harder than ever._

_Even the endless rain that had replaced the snow couldn't dampen his spirits. The Weasleys complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but Harry was on Wood's side._

"No surprise there," Neville, Luna and Hermione sighed in exasperation. Harry just gave Neville a small smile and stared blank faced at the two girls, who flinched back at the look he was giving them.

_If they won their next match, against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house championship for the first time in seven years. Quite apart from wanting to win, Harry found that he had fewer nightmares when he was tired out after training._

Everyone looked at Harry when this was revealed. Harry just sat, still curled up in a small ball, and blinked sleepily at them. Neville laughed softly when Narcissa started to coo over how cute he looked when he was sleepy. If she wasn't already pregnant, he would have said that she was ready to have another one as she was acting so clucky over his friend – but then again, Harry could make anyone coo when he was in one of his innocent moods.

_Then, during one particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just gotten very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms._

Severus paled slightly at this. He remembered the reactions of everyone when he stated that he would referee this game, and in the end it was all for naught.

_'Will you stop messing around!' he yelled. 'That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!'_

"Thank you Severus," Tom whispered to the man seated to his immediate left.

"You are welcome my Lord," Severus said just as quietly, blinking and blushing slightly at the sincerity in the other man's words. Lucius and Narcissa looked between the men curiously.

"You'll see," Tom said bitterly, angry at himself for his behaviour in the past.

_George Weasley really did fall off his broom at these words._

Harry giggled softly at the memory those words sparked. George had still been picking mud out from between his teeth and from his ears two weeks later. Neville smiled indulgently at him. It seemed as though he had once again regressed to the mind-set of a child.

_'Snape's refereeing?' he spluttered through a mouthful of mud. 'When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin.'_

"I guess I deserved that comment," Severus sighed dejectedly.

"Without a doubt," Harry, Neville, Luna and Hermione stated without hesitation. Everyone else in the room just looked on in amusement.

_The rest of the team landed next to George to complain, too._

_'It's not my fault,' said Wood. 'We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us.'_

_Which was all very well, thought Harry, but he had another reason for not wanting Snape near him while he was playing Quidditch…_

"You really thought that Sev was out to get you, dindn't you Harry?" Narcissa cooed softly, her fingers itching to reach out and stroke the teen's hair until he fell asleep.

"Of course I did 'Cissa," he fought a yawn, "He was an absolute nightmare."

Severus winced slightly before stiffening his spine – he may have been a nightmare towards the boy, but he had still done his best to protect him from everything that could harm him, himself included. Harry noticed the change in Severus' posture and smiled softly at the man, nodding his approval for the change.

_The rest of the team hung back to talk to one another as usual at the end of practice, but Harry headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room, where he found Ron and Hermione playing chess._

_Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at, something Harry and Ron thought was very good for her._

"Very smart of you," Lucius said with a slight incline of his head in Harry's direction. "It isn't good for someone to be good at everything. They get cocky and then start making stupid mistakes."

"I didn't mind losing to Harry," Hermione admitted. "Even though he was a worse player than Ron, it always made my blood boil when he would beat me because he would act as though he'd won some huge battle for days afterwards. Harry always had a smile and a 'good game' or 'you're improving' to offer at the end of each game. Ron would just turn around and say 'so Miss Know-It-All Granger still can't handle a little game of chess' it would just be like rubbing salt into a wound."

"They all seem to be more subdued – especially Harry," Blaise muse out loud. "Wonder why?"

"Hermione and Luna are subdued because it was pointed out to them that their little 'punishment' for Harry could have killed him. I'm not subdued, I'm pissed off at the two of them for forgetting something that important and Harry's body is working on getting the allergen from his body so it has made him as dopey as sloth on sleeping pills. Don't be too surprised if he nods off in the middle of a conversation … much like he did just then."

Everyone looked at the seat holding the teen only to discover that he was once again curled up in a tight ball and was fast asleep.

_'Don't talk to me for a moment,' said Ron when Harry sat down next to him, 'I need to concen-' _

"So he is just a general distraction to all," Tom chuckled.

"Only to people I don't like," Harry quipped, stretching once more as he jolted awake from his cat-nap.

"Touché," Tom laughed, noting how Harry's hair was an even bigger mess and how the teen ignored it as he sat up straight with a slight wince.

_He caught sight of Harry's face._

_'What's the matter with you? You look terrible.'_

_Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told the other two about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee._

_'Don't play,' said Hermione at once._

_'Say you're ill,' said Ron._

_'Pretend to break your leg,' Hermione suggested._

_'Really break your leg,' said Ron._

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes at the stupidity of the youngest Weasley male.

_'I can't,' said Harry. 'There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all.'_

_At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse._

Draco paled and whimpered softly.

"Why is it always me?" Lucius asked rhetorically as he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Maybe because you were the one who spoilt him," Harry, Luna, Hermione and Neville responded almost immediately in a no-nonsense tone.

"So ner," Tom said, laughter dancing in his eyes.

_He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower._

_Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione, who leapt up and performed the counter curse._

"Thank you for that, Hermione," Neville stated stiffly, still not in the mood to forgive the girl.

"No problem Neville," Hermione replied softly, not looking at the angry boy.

"I would have helped you Neville," Harry stated with a giggle, ignoring the argument that was occurring within his family's ranks. He wouldn't interrupt unless things got too out of hand. "Except I caught what you were muttering under your breath."

Neville chuckled, blushing embarrassedly.

"Which was?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow in interest.

"Wish I was the one who put the pine cone Malfoy has up his arse on his seat," Harry and Neville chorused, one much more enthusiastically than the other. Pansy and Blaise looked at Draco and started to laugh at the indignant expression on his face.

_Neville's legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling. 'What happened?' Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Harry and Ron._

"_Malfoy," said Neville shakily._

"We should have been able to guess," Harry and Hermione chorused.

_'I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on.'_

_'Go to Professor McGonagall!' Hermione urged Neville. 'Report him!'_

_Neville shook his head._

_'I don't want more trouble,' he mumbled._

Neville chuckled and shook his head slightly in disbelief at his old self. "I was terrified as to what the Professor there would do to me had I gotten his favourite student in trouble," he chuckled in self-derision.

Severus lowered his head in shame. How many students had he had that effect on without realising it? He had always loved potions and the only thing that he had loved more was teaching others how to appreciate them as much as they appreciated the other branches of magic. Where had it all gone wrong?

_'You've got to stand up to him, Neville!' said Ron. 'He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier.'_

Everyone in the room winced. That was going way too far. In a way, that was worse than what Draco had done because Neville was in a rival house and that type of behaviour – while looked down on – was expected.

_'There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that,' Neville choked out._

Narcissa growled lowly and Draco paled.

_Harry felt in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hermione had given him for Christmas. He gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry._

Everyone who wasn't there turned to look at Harry in disbelief. They had seen exactly how he reacted around chocolate and for him to not only give one to someone else, but for it to be his very last one was note-worthy.

"I do know how to share, you know," Harry huffed in annoyance.

"Yes, but it was chocolate," Tom said, unwittingly copying Harry's words from the beginning of the third chapter they had read.

"Neville needed it more than I did," Harry said stubbornly.

"And I've never forgotten it," Neville cut in before the intense discussion could become even more intense – no matter how entertaining it would be for the rest of the people in the room.

Harry snuggled back into his chair and smirked at the Dark Lord before poking his tongue out at him.

"What are you? Five?" Tom asked in amusement.

"Actually I'm six, thank you very much," Harry stated, sticking his nose in the air as though he were snubbing the much older man.

Everyone in the room laughed as Tom blinked at the boy in confusion.

_'You're worth twelve of Malfoy,' Harry said. 'The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin.'_

"And I meant that too," Harry stated angrily, sitting forward in the chair so suddenly that the people seated around him leant back instinctually. "Only a coward would attack who they perceived to be the weakest member of a specific group when said member is alone and they have at least another two people with them."

Draco blushed in shame at this, knowing deep down what Harry was saying was the truth.

"I don't even think they are worthy to have the Slytherin House logo on their breast because they do not represent what Slytherin's stand for! Slytherins are renowned for their fluidity and grace, for their cunning and ambition and for their poise whist under adversity. They are NOT renowned for cowardice, gang warfare and sloppiness."

Draco, Blaise and Pansy lowered their heads in shame while Severus, Narcissa, Lucius and Tom looked at Harry with their mouths agape.

"Damn, do I wish that he would teach us how to do that!" Neville said enviously.

"It wouldn't work for us like it does Harry," Luna said softly, speaking directly to Neville for the first time since he blew up at her and Hermione.

"I know," Neville said still slightly cold towards the two of them.

"Oh for crying out loud Nev, get over it!" Harry finally yelled, massaging his head due to the headache he was getting due to the way he was acting towards the two girls.

"They could have _Killed_ you," Neville said, stressing the word 'killed' as though Harry hadn't realised just how serious his position was.

"My magic wouldn't have allowed it, Nev. It would have forced one of them to come to me before anything really bad happened."

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Neville shouted, shaking in what could be mistaken for anger, but was a completely different emotion all together. "YOU HAVE 5% OF YOUR MAGICAL CORE LEFT TO WORK WITH, HARRY! MOST WITCHES AND WIZARDS WOULD HAVE SUCCUMBED TO MAGICAL COMA'S WHEN THEY HIT 10%."

It hit everyone in the room at once what Neville was trying to say. Harry hadn't been resting or eating enough for his magical core to replenish itself and so his reserves were dangerously low. It was then that it became clear that Neville was shaking, not in anger, but in fear.

"I don't know if you have enough magic left in you to fully destroy the allergens in your system, let alone to force someone to aid you before you died," Neville whispered as though he were in pain, tears gathering in his eyes. "None of us would survive if you were to die, Harry – particularly if it were one or more of us who were the reason you died."

Harry grabbed his hair in clenched fists before allowing himself to drop all his guards. "Nev, I have enough magic to keep me safe," he sighed. "I've been running on 5% for nearly one and a half months now. Play time with Al doesn't just ground me, it also keeps my magic from being worn down too fast. Truth is, I haven't seen Al much at all this year - only once or twice a term. I was already down to 18% when it was discovered that Hermione was pregnant. I've gone down so quickly because I've been sending magic to the babe even when I'm not supposed to. Elise has been feeding small amounts of magic back to me through the chocolates and sweets she's been feeding me. Why do you think I've wanted to keep all house elves away as much as possible?"

Neville and Luna exchanged shocked looks while Hermione looked devastated. Neville had been correct – not scratching his itch was bad for his health … and it was mostly Hermione's fault. Hermione felt completely gutted at this revelation. What was worse, in her mind at least, was that Harry had known what it was doing to him and yet he still remained by her side with very little resistance compared to what she had asked of him.

Lucius, Tom, Severus and Narcissa exchanged astounded looks. Without all the formal training, Harry Potter had become the perfect example of a Slytherin Lord who's first and most important duty was that to his family.

_Neville's lips twitched in a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog._

"Even then all of Gryffindor Tower was aware of Harry's obsession with chocolate. It wasn't lost on me that the world's largest chocoholic was willing to part with his last piece of chocolate for what could very well be until the end of the school year if not longer, for me." The awe that Neville had felt that day five years in the past was still evident in both his voice and his face.

_'Thanks, Harry… I think I'll go to bed… D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?'_

_As Neville walked away, Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card._

_'Dumbledore again,' he said, 'He was the first one I ever -'_

_He gasped. He stared at the back of the card. Then he looked up at Ron and Hermione._

_'I've found him!' he whispered. 'I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here - listen to this: Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel!'_

"A COLLECTORS CARD! YOU MANAGED TO DISCOVER WHAT I WAS AFTER FROM A CARD IN A BOX OF CHOCOLATE!" Tom screeched, breaking the tension in the room and making everyone laugh.

"Yep, isn't it great?" Harry grinned at the infuriated man, making him even more furious.

_Hermione jumped to her feet. She hadn't looked so excited since they'd gotten back the marks for their very first piece of homework._

_'Stay there!' she said, and she sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Harry and Ron barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms._

"Enormous, huh?" Lucius asked with a smirk. "How big was it really?"

"The title of it was 'Ancient Magic Basics for Practical Usi in the Modern World' by Amalthine Lucine, copyrighted 1990," Harry and Hermione said without hesitation.

Lucius' jaw dropped. He had thought that the book had only looked big because they were first years, not that it was the largest and heaviest book in the entire school library.

"I think that can be classified as enormous," Blaise deadpanned, his eyes slightly glazed over with shock.

_'I never thought to look in here!' she whispered excitedly. 'I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading.'_

"Light reading?" Lucius and Narcissa yelped in surprise.

"For Hermione it is light reading material," Harry, Neville and Luna replied as the girl in question flushed a brilliant shade of magenta.

"No wonder there is no one in our year level that can score higher than her in an exam," Pansy whispered, awed.

"Do you understand now why she is our family intellect," Neville said with a smirk.

"And information gatherer," Luna added.

"And don't forget stand-in mother," Harry stated with a cheeky grin in her direction.

"If I were your mother I'd have beaten you," she ground out through teeth clenched with embarrassment.

"I'm sure you would have," Harry responded easily, making the adults flinch minutely at how easily he could shake it off.

_'Light?' said Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself._

_At last she found what she was looking for._

_'I knew it! I knew it!'_

_'Are we allowed to speak yet?' said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him._

"As do we all," Neville stated with a negligent shrug, setting off another round of laughter.

"I thought it was only Slytherins who did that to him," Pansy stated when she had calmed enough to talk without gasping for breath.

"No," Harry said with a slight giggle. "Everyone I know either tries to ignore him or tries to make his life just that much more painful for him."

"If only we had known," Blaise lamented, shaking his head in despair, making Harry giggle again.

_'Nicolas Flamel,' she whispered dramatically, 'is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!'_

"Outsmarted by an eleven year old," Tom and Severus growled.

"Don't feel special because you weren't the only two," Harry and Neville chimed in completely serious.

_This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected._

Everyone laughed, even Hermione, who remembered that she had expected gasps or exclamations of either excitement or disbelief.

_'The what?' said Harry and Ron._

_'Oh, honestly, don't you two read?_

Harry raised his eyebrows in question as he looked at his oldest friend. "Between school work, quidditch and dodging fan-girls, when did I have the time to read for entertainment purposes?"

"Well, when you put it that way … Never," Hermione admitted, sighing in defeat.

'My point exactly," Harry said, posture one of dignity and the manner of one who was talking about that week's politics.

"But Weasley didn't have that excuse," Pansy pointed out, breaking the moment between the two friends-turned-siblings.

"Ah yes. We have placed him in the 'allergic to books' category," Harry said, leaning forward slightly and steepling his fingers.

"He's one of those is he?" Tom asked with disgust.

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna nodded, as did Pansy, Blaise and Draco.

_Look - read that, there.'_

_She pushed the book toward them, and Harry and Ron read:_

_The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal._

_There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight)._

_'See?' said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished. 'The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!'_

"Pity he put his trust in Dumbledore," Luna snorted. "Oh well, they know of their mistake now.

_'A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!' said Harry. 'No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it.'_

_'And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry,' said Ron. 'He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?'_

_The next morning in Defense Against the Dark Arts, while copying down different ways of treating werewolf bites, _

"How ironic," Pansy said with a grim smile. Why did their best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher have to be a werewolf … well, there was the bit about knowing by experience and all that … and he was kind of cute for an older man … She shook her head roughly to get that thought out of her head. He was already spoken for, even if the potions master refused to admit it even to himself.

_Harry and Ron were still discussing what they'd do with a Philosopher's Stone if they had one. It wasn't until Ron said he'd buy his own Quidditch team that Harry remembered about Snape and the coming match._

_'I'm going to play,' he told Ron and Hermione. 'If I don't, all the Slytherins will think I'm just too scared to face Snape._

"And we wouldn't want that would we?" Blaise drawled sarcastically.

"Of course not," Harry answered truthfully, ignoring the sarcasm, "because I'm not scared of him. He just pisses me off at times."

Hermione giggled at the resigned expression on Neville's face.

"See what I have to deal with?" Severus moaned.

"I wouldn't complain if I were you," Luna said seriously, "he can become even worse."

Severus moaned piteously once more and hid his face in his hands.

_I'll show them… it'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win.'_

_'Just as long as we're not wiping you off the field,' said Hermione._

"That is a rather disturbing image," Narcissa said, turning an odd combination of chalk-white and pale green.

"That is what I was scare of the most that year. That Harry would be seriously injured by a teacher and no one would believe that it had happened," Hermione said lowly, hugging her knees to her chest.

Tom looked at the girl sadly, before looking away guiltily.

_As the match drew nearer, however, Harry became more and more nervous, whatever he told Ron and Hermione._

_The rest of the team wasn't too calm, either. The idea of overtaking Slytherin in the house championship was wonderful, no one had done it for seven years, but would they be allowed to, with such a biased referee?_

"Hold on a minute … The Gryffindor team was nervous?" Draco asked incredulously.

"More like we were extremely tense – so tense that if we were a bow, the arrow being drawn would have snapped the string," Harry said, eyes clouded with memories.

"None of you looked it," Pansy said quietly. Maybe there was more to Gryffindors as a whole, even if Harry, Hermione and Neville were still the odd ones out.

"Or gave off the vibes of stress," Blaise continued with a raised eyebrow in Pansy's direction for the thoughtful look on her face.

"They definitely looked it in the common room," Neville said grimly.

"No one could go near any of them without getting their heads ripped off," Hermione nodded just as grimly as she relived the memory.

"Unless you were a member of the team, that is," Neville said with a half-grin.

"Gred and Forge told us that it felt unnatural for the team to be separated from each other, so they ended up conjuring up some sleeping bags and camping in the common room for the entire week leading up to the match," Luna cut in gracefully.

Severus shook his head in disbelief. It was hard for him to understand why his decision to referee the match had affected them so badly.

"Oliver has anxiety issues," Harry said, answering the question that the man had unknowingly asked out loud. "You volunteering also disrupted the way things around the school flowed for a few weeks and that put him on edge. Oliver has OCD, is a complete and utter control freak and is his hardest critique. I blame his father for that one."

Severus nodded in understanding. Knowing those few extra facts about the ex-Gryffindor definitely put his behaviour into an easier to understand light.

_Harry didn't know whether he was imagining it or not, but he seemed to keep running into Snape wherever he went._

Lucius, Narcissa and Draco choked in their attempt at hiding their laughter as Severus blushed and cleared his throat nervously as he did his best to not fidget guiltily at the folded armed glares he was receiving from Harry, Hermione and Neville.

_At times, he even wondered whether Snape was following him, trying to catch him on his own._

_Potions lessons were turning into a sort of weekly torture, Snape was so horrible to Harry._

"For shame, Severus," Tom frowned at him in disappointment. "He's only an eleven year old child, for Merlin's sake.

"Are you fucking kidding, Tom?" Harry asked with an eyebrow raised in the older man's direction. "He just made my potions lessons hell to live through – YOU on the other hand, tried to KILL me."

Tom blushed and looked away, muttering under his breath. "I'm trying to forget about that bit."

_Could Snape possibly know they'd found out about the Philosopher's Stone? _

"Yes," Harry, Hermione and Neville deadpanned while Severus scowled and denied knowledge of it.

_Harry didn't see how he could - yet he sometimes had the horrible feeling that Snape could read minds._

"He can," they deadpanned again.

"The mind is not a book you cannot read it!" Severus scowled deeper at the three.

"But you can scan it, and you can scan books as well. In fact, you pick up most of the important bits when you scan something before going in depth, so really, it is worse than reading someone's mind. Perverted bastard." Harry reasoned out, confusing most of the people in the room with how fast he was speaking.

Hermione, Neville and Luna closed their eyes and covered their lips with a firm hand to stop them from laughing at the twitch that formed in the man's eye as he processed what he had been called.

_Harry knew, when they wished him good luck outside the locker rooms the next afternoon, that Ron and Hermione were wondering whether they'd ever see him alive again._

"What a cheerful thought," Lucius stated, obviously slightly disturbed at their way of thinking at such a young age.

"Not really," Hermione said, "but it is a very realistic approach when dealing with Harry. If something happens, it normally skips us and heads straight to Harry."

"Or he pushes, pulls or spells us out of the way and takes the hit for us, the noble git," Neville said, rolling his eyes.

"Particularly if it is the end of the year," Luna mused. "That is the most dangerous time for Harry."

_This wasn't what you'd call comforting. Harry hardly heard a word of Wood's pep talk as he pulled on his Quidditch robes and picked up his Nimbus Two Thousand._

_Ron and Hermione, meanwhile, had found a place in the stands next to Neville, who couldn't understand why they looked so grim and worried, or why they had both brought their wands to the match._

"It's not that I couldn't understand it, it was that I didn't want to know. The Professor terrified me as it was and I didn't want to think of him being a danger to my best friend," Neville explained in response to the odd looks he had gotten at the wording.

_Little did Harry know that Ron and Hermione had been secretly practicing the Leg-Locker Curse._

_They'd gotten the idea from Malfoy using it on Neville,_

"You got the idea from something I did?" Draco asked, clearly taken aback.

"Yes, so you are good for something other than bringing on PMS," Hermione grinned back in a shark-like fashion. Neville, Pansy and Blaise laughed outright at the girl's explanation.

_and were ready to use it on Snape if he showed any sign of wanting to hurt Harry._

Lucius whistled softly in awe, "Now THAT is evidence of impressive loyalty and dedication."

"What does he have that makes him worthy of people that dedicated to him," Tom whined, much to everyone's amusement.

"He got it by being loyal and devoted to us first," Hermione said seriously.

"He never saw us as a bother or a nuisance, but as people in our own …" Luna started.

"Right. He also never disciplines us publically and never in the same way twice in a row," Neville cut in on his girlfriend with a cheeky grin at her.

"And he always makes sure the punishment fits the discretion," The three of the continued.

"Meaning no cruciatus before breakfast," Harry mocked playfully, making Tom blush slightly.

_'Now, don't forget, it's Locomotor Mortis,' Hermione muttered as Ron slipped his wand up his sleeve._

_'I know,' Ron snapped. 'Don't nag.'_

"Ingrate!" Harry, Blaise, Hermione and Draco yelled out, making everyone jump.

_Back in the locker room, Wood had taken Harry aside._

_'Don't want to pressure you, Potter, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before Snape can favour Hufflepuff too much.'_

"Yeah Harry, no pressure," Neville said with a cheeky grin that made dimples appear on his cheeks.

_'The whole school's out there!' said Fred Weasley, peering out of the door. 'Even - blimey - Dumbledore's come to watch!'_

Everyone in the room hisses, except for Severus, who muttered darkly under his breath.

_Harry's heart did a somersault._

_'Dumbledore?' he said, dashing to the door to make sure. Fred was right. There was no mistaking that silver beard._

_Harry could have laughed out loud with relief, he was safe._

~I am sssuch and ingnoramissss. How could I ever have felt ssssafe with him there~ Harry hissed, obviously pissed off at his past actions.

"Before you get too worked up about feeling safe with him there, don't forget that Al was also there keeping an eye on you as well," Luna interrupted calmly.

~Now don't I feel the idiot~ Harry hissed sheepishly.

Tom smirked at the younger male. ~You do know that talking to yourssself issss the firsssst ssssign of madnessss, don't you?~

~But you alsssso can speak Parsssseltongue, sssso I'm not really talking to mysssself, am I?~ Harry smirked back.

Tom laughed joyfully. ~You have me there, young one~

Neville and Hermione reached out and flicked Harry on the forehead while Luna did the exact same to Tom making everyone look at the three of them in wide eyed shock.

"Stop conversing so we can't understand you," the three of them ordered.

Harry and Tom both stuck out their tongues at them.

_There was simply no way that Snape would dare to try to hurt him if Dumbledore was watching._

_Perhaps that was why Snape was looking so angry as the teams marched onto the field,_

"No," Severus growled. "I was pissed off at the fact that I had degraded myself to acting as the referee for a game that I detest on HIS orders so I could protect you better when he had planned on being there the entire time!"

_something that Ron noticed, too._

_'I've never seen Snape look so mean,' he told Hermione. 'Look - they're off. Ouch!'_

_Someone had poked Ron in the back of the head. It was Malfoy._

"DO IT AGAIN, WE DIDN'T SEE IT!" Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville shouted in glee at the book.

"…Spooky…" Narcissa and Pansy whispered, staring at the unrepentant quartet.

_'Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn't see you there.'_

"You would think that with his height and his red hair that he would be easy to see, but here I am hearing about yet another person who has trouble seeing him when he is before them," Harry said with a mock-seriousness. "It's almost as though he isn't important enough to be noticed."

Hermione, Luna and Neville were clutching their stomachs as they laughed.

"Do you know what is so funny?" Narcissa asked Severus as he watched the three of them almost roll onto the floor.

"I have no idea," He replied.

"Harry is so good at ignoring the things and people that he doesn't want to acknowledge that he has trained himself to not see them. He has ended up sitting in Ron's lap because he couldn't be bothered seeing him in the seat. To Harry, the seat was empty. He honestly couldn't see that the seat was taken," Hermione filled them in when she could talk properly.

"He can do that, but he couldn't get a handle on Occulmancy," Severus stated incredulously, shaking his head.

_Malfoy grinned broadly at Crabbe and Goyle._

_'Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?'_

"Never disrespect Harry like that EVER again if you want to father the next generation of Malfoys," Hermione, Luna and Neville growled at Draco, all three of their eyes flashing red, gold or bronze.

"I've changed my mind," Tom stated, wide-eyed as the young Malfoy heir paled and nodded his agreement rapidly. "I don't want that level of devotion."

"You get used to it … eventually," Harry sighed. "But I must admit that they do generally forget that I can take care of myself better than they could take care of me."

"That is debatable," Neville and Luna growled, making Harry growled back at them, making them flinch back slightly.

_Ron didn't answer; Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him._

_Hermione, who had all her fingers crossed in her lap, was squinting fixedly at Harry, who was circling the game like a hawk, looking for the Snitch._

"I have to be honest here, I'm jealous," Blaise admitted to Draco and Pansy. "He truly is blessed in his friends."

_'You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?' said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all. _

"That's what everyone thought anyway," Harry chuckled.

"What happened?" Pansy asked, sitting forward eagerly at the promise of better gossip than what she normally got.

"Forge tried to hex Severus without him noticing. It would have hit too if it wasn't for the slight shimmer of it."

"Why didn't you try to prevent him from doing it?" Lucius asked in disgust.

"It was a mouth washing hex," Harry said with a negligent shrug. "I thought it was both deserved and needed, what with the language that was coming from between his lips."

Severus flushed at the narrow-eyed look that Narcissa was throwing his way.

_'It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money - you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains.'_

Draco lowered his head as low as it would go out of shame of his past actions.

_Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy._

_'I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy,' he stammered._

Everyone who wasn't there at the time looked at Neville in shock or awe.

"What?" Neville asked, honestly confused. "When Harry tells you that you are worth something, you can't help but believe him."

_Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game, said, 'You tell him, Neville.'_

_'Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something.'_

"No one could be poorer than Weasley since if brains were gold then he'd be in debt!" Harry spat hatefully.

_Ron's nerves were already stretched to the breaking point with anxiety about Harry._

_'I'm warning you, Malfoy - one more word-'_

_'Ron!' said Hermione suddenly, 'Harry -'_

_'What? Where?'_

_Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Harry streaked toward the ground like a bullet._

_'You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!' said Malfoy._

"Nah, nothing that interesting," Harry said with a negligent wave of his hand.

_Ron snapped. Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground._

_Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help._

"Ah yes, but to help who?" Neville asked with a psychotic grin on his lips making Harry burst into peals of laughter.

_'Come on, Harry!' Hermione screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape - she didn't even notice Malfoy and Ron rolling around under her seat, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Neville, Crabbe, and Goyle._

"Go Neville!" Harry and Luna catcalled, making the normally shy teen stand and take a bow with a silly grin on his face.

_Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches - the next second, Harry had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand._

"Almost gave me a heart attack, I don't mind telling you," Severus grumbled, putting a hand over his chest for emphasis.

"Then you shouldn't have been between me and the snitch," Harry said as though it were the most reasonable thing to say at that point in time, which to him – it was.

_The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the Snitch being caught so quickly._

_'Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!' shrieked Hermione, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging Parvati Patil in the row in front._

"You didn't know that he was on the ground?" Pansy asked, laughing.

"To be perfectly honest, I didn't care. I always have believed that if he was truly worried about Harry, then he could have ignored anything, even Draco Malfoy when he was being a prat," Hermione said decisively.

"That is one way to look at it," Narcissa said, giving the girl a nod.

_Harry jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground._

Neville started to laugh so hard that Luna needed to pound his back as hard as she could to get him to start breathing again. "You can jump off a speeding broom and land on the ground without a hitch, but you can't use a portkey without endangering everyone around you?"

Harry groaned, "I'm worse with travelling by floo. I feel sick, can't breath properly and it feels like the fireplace vomits me out at whichever gate it feels like instead of the one ask for, no matter how clearly I call out the place name I'm travelling to. I think it is allergic to me," he pouted.

Lucius looked at the boy thoughtfully while everyone else laughed at the boy's dramatics.

_He couldn't believe it. He'd done it - the game was over; it had barely lasted five minutes. As Gryffindors came spilling onto the field, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped_

"I am so proud of myself," Harry sniffed, wiping away an imaginary tear from his eye. "I nearly made the head of Slytherin House piss his pants."

Severus glared at the boy, not being able to prevent the slight flush that appeared on his cheeks.

_- then Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore's smiling face._

_'Well done,' said Dumbledore quietly, so that only Harry could hear. 'Nice to see you haven't been brooding about that mirror… been keeping busy… excellent…'_

_Snape spat bitterly on the ground._

"I agree," Harry said with a nod, "but I don't agree that the ground should have been the recipient. Maybe next time you can aim a little more towards Dumpy?" he asked hopefully.

_Harry left the locker room alone some time later, to take his Nimbus Two Thousand back to the broomshed. He couldn't ever remember feeling happier. He'd really done something to be proud of now - no one could say he was just a famous name any more._

_The evening air had never smelled so sweet._

_He walked over the damp grass, reliving the last hour in his head, which was a happy blur: Gryffindors running to lift him onto their shoulders; Ron and Hermione in the distance, jumping up and down, Ron cheering through a heavy nosebleed._

_Harry had reached the shed. He leaned against the wooden door and looked up at Hogwarts, with its windows glowing red in the setting sun._

"Beautiful. Simply beautiful," Harry and Tom sighed with reverence.

Elise chimed happily at the fact that two of her children showed her such love.

_Gryffindor in the lead. He'd done it, he'd shown Snape…_

_And speaking of Snape…_

_A hooded figure came swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Clearly not wanting to be seen,_

"So natural, you saw it," Severus snapped, angry more at himself than the boy. He was supposed to be a spy and that had been the third time that he had failed to even notice that the boy was within sight.

"Naturally," Harry agreed with a grin, making Hermione shake her head. She was glad that the school had no dragons or Harry might try to disprove the school motto. Even Ronald could tell it was a bad idea to needle the potions master when he was in a bad mood, but Harry did so anyway.

_it walked as fast as possible toward the forbidden forest. Harry's victory faded from his mind as he watched. He recognized the figure's prowling walk. Snape, sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner - what was going on?_

"You memorized his way of WALKING?" Tom asked incredulously, blinking at the teen.

"Of course," Harry said, looking slightly insulted at the incredulous looks he was getting. "It is one of the more attractive things about him, after his voice. He is graceful – it is almost as if he is moving to music only he can hear."

"That is true," Narcissa admitted. She had always admired the way her friend walked. Her husband cut a very dashing figure wherever he was, but the one place that Severus Snape out did Lucius was in his walk. "Now, if only he would allow me to take him clothes shopping," she mused out loud.

"Not on your life!" Severus growled at the woman, visions of nightmarish quality going through his mind.

"We will change his mind eventually, 'Cissa," Harry told the now pouting female as he pat her hand gently. "I'm sure of it. I know what my secondary godfather likes and if he knows what is good for him, he will come with the two of us." He shot the potions master an evil grin that made him pale.

"Or what?" Tom asked, more amused than anything.

Harry's grin grew wider and more evil. "If not, then I will tell Myrtle that Severus would like her company, but as he isn't really a people person, he just doesn't know how to go about talking to her about becoming her friend – and that he would like it very much if he could share her u-bend with her when he dies as he doesn't want to leave his best friend behind when he goes."

Severus turned nearly fluorescent green at that and ran for the bathroom that mysteriously just appeared.

"I think he's going to come shopping with us now, 'Cissa," Harry said innocently over the laughter that echoed around the room.

_Harry jumped back on his Nimbus Two Thousand and took off. Gliding silently over the castle he saw Snape enter the forest at a run. He followed._

_The trees were so thick he couldn't see where Snape had gone. He flew in circles, lower and lower, brushing the top branches of trees until he heard voices. He glided toward them and landed noiselessly in a towering beech tree._

"How can you do things like that so quietly?" Tom asked in frustration.

"That's what I would like to know!" Neville, Hermione, Luna and Severus chorused, while Draco, Blaise and Pansy nodded their agreement.

_He climbed carefully along one of the branches, holding tight to his broomstick, trying to see through the leaves._

_Below, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape, but he wasn't alone. Quirrell was there, too. Harry couldn't make out the look on his face, but he was stuttering worse than ever. Harry strained to catch what they were saying._

_'… d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus…'_

_'Oh, I thought we'd keep this private,' said Snape, his voice icy._

_'Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all.'_

"And thank you very much for the confirmation of our assumptions!" Harry crowed, exalted. Severus growled at the overly-hyper teen.

"I really hate him sometimes," Tom whined, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

_Harry leaned forward. Quirrell was mumbling something. Snape interrupted him._

_'Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?'_

_'B-b-but Severus, I -'_

_'You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell,' said Snape, taking a step toward him._

_'I-I don't know what you-'_

_'You know perfectly well what I mean.'_

_An owl hooted loudly, and Harry nearly fell out of the tree. He steadied himself in time to hear Snape say, '- your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting.'_

_'B-but I d-d-don't -'_

_'Very well,' Snape cut in. 'We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie.'_

_He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Harry could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he was petrified._

Everyone in the room turned and blinked at Harry, who was stretching.

"Yes?" he blinked.

"You never told us that," Hermione stated, sounding more like Luna then herself, making Harry raise an eyebrow in question.

_'Harry, where have you been?' Hermione squeaked._

_'We won! You won! We won!' shouted Ron, thumping Harry on the back. 'And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's still out cold but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens.'_

"Trust him to care more about food than my wellbeing," Neville snorted.

"You were expecting anything else?" Harry asked incredulously. "This is Ron Weasley we are talking about, correct?"

"It is," Neville agreed before shaking his head slightly. "And you are right. What was I thinking? If you aren't cream-filled, deep fried and smothered in chocolate he wants nothing to do with you."

_'Never mind that now,' said Harry breathlessly. 'Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this…'_

_He made sure Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, then he told them what he'd seen and heard._

_'So we were right, it is the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy - and he said something about Quirrell's hocus pocus - I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through -'_

_'So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?' said Hermione in alarm._

_'It'll be gone by next Tuesday,' said Ron._

"It's wonderful to know that you have such confidence in your teachers," Tom said sardonically.

"Only our DADA teachers," Luna admitted. You want the job?"

"Yeah, we need someone competent in to fill that position. The only half-decent Professor we've had was Remus and due to the stupidity of the wizarding world he isn't allowed anywhere near children," Hermione huffed in disgust.

Tom, Severus and Lucius all blinked at the muggleborn female in shock. She was actually asked the Dark Lord if he wanted a teaching position all because she wanted to be taught by someone competent.

"I think you broke them again, 'Mione," Harry laughed, soon to be joined by the other students. "Elise, can we have something to eat now. We can't afford to stop for me to cook, so it will have to be something from the kitchens."

Within a few moments a table full of different foods appeared behind the chairs they were sitting on and the scent wafting from that direction broke the three men out of their shock long enough to realise that they were rather hungry themselves. For half an hour, there was silence in the room of requirement as the requested nourishment had been devoured until only a few scraps were left.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Lucius looked around at the people surrounding him and shook his head in amusement. He had never thought that he would be in the same room as four of the people surrounding him, but he was thankful that it had happened. There was just so much to those he had classified as beneath him that he would never have gotten to know if it hadn't been for this opportunity. He was still against letting the muggle world know about their world, but maybe, just maybe, muggleborn and half-blood witches and wizards had more to them than originally thought. With this thought in mind, he reached out for the book and opened it up to the correct page, noting absentmindedly that it was once again his turn to read.

"I've finished eating, so I'll start treading now. It might help make the reading go faster" he said to all the questioning looks.

Harry blushed and looked away slightly in shame for the few days he had been out of it. Neville rolled his eyes and flicked him on the forehead once more.

Lucius laughed and started to read.

_Chapter 14 - Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback_

"My firebug!" Harry squealed, making everyone rush to cover their ears.

"See! I told you Uncle Sev!" Draco yelld out, pointing at the book.

"It was real?" Severus squeaked, eyes wide.

"You thought otherwise?" Harry, Neville and Hermione asked.

"I didn't think even Hagrid would be stupid enough to do something that idotic," Severus snapped.

"Like I said earlier, it is more dangerous to be a friend of his than his enemy," Harry said, shaking his head while nibbling on what seemed to be a slice of cucumber.

_Quirrell, however, must have been braver than they'd thought._

_In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet._

"It didn't look it, but I'm sure he had," Harry muttered through his small bites of whatever it was that he had chosen to nibble this time.

_Every time they passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron, and Hermione would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe._

"You used Sev's surliness as reassurance that the stone was safe?" Draco and Lucius managed to choke out through their laughter.

"Yep," Hermione answered before continuing on her food. She was hungry and the food tasted really good.

Severus groaned. "No wonder every time I was dastardly towards you I received grins in reply."

_Whenever Harry passed Quirrell these days he gave him an encouraging sort of smile_

"He was thinking that you were trying to flirt with him," Tom said with a laugh.

"Oh eww," Harry, Neville and Hermione shuddered, with Harry turning a violent green.

_, and Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter._

_Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Philosopher's Stone._

"What could be more important than the stone?" Narcissa asked, gobsmacked.

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville looked at the blonde woman blankly.

_She had started drawing up study schedules and color coding all her notes._

"Revision?" Draco and Blaise screeched.

"Another reason why she is the top student of your year," Lucius said, shaking his head. All those thoughts that had been pushed into his head when he was young, destroyed in under a week.

_Harry and Ron wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same._

_'Hermione, the exams are ages away.'_

"Let me guess," Severus sighed. "Ronald?"

"What gave it away?" Harry and Hermione chorused, Harry still looking a bit green.

_'Ten weeks,' Hermione snapped._

_'That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel.'_

_'But we're not six hundred years old,' Ron reminded her._

_'Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all.'_

"This cannot end well," Tom commented with a wince.

_'What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…'_

"You are obsessed, girl!" Lucius, Narcissa, Draco, Blaise and Pansy chorused.

Hermione raised her nose in the air snootily. "I prefer the term 'dedicated'."

"But for 'Mione, they are one and the same," Harry gently teased.

"And we love her for it," Neville smiled.

_Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones._

_It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood_

"Hard to relax, yes – hard to memorise, no," Harry, Luna and Neville chorused with a grin. Narcissa raised an eyebrow at them in question, making the three of the laugh at her.

"We study as a group. WE find it easier to concentrate and we bounce things off each other," Hermione answered, shaking her head at the other three for their foolishness.

_or practicing wand movements._

_Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra work._

"Harry was yawning and moaning about lack of sleep," Hermione stated to the questioning looks everyone was throwing at the dazed boy.

"So would you be if you were dreaming that Severus made a potion that transfigured into a man-eating broomstick due to Draco who then gave it to Ron in the hopes that it would eat him, but it failed to do that and ate me potion's assignment instead while Ron pat it on the handle cooing about what a good little broom it was," Harry responded grumpily, slurring some of his words in tiredness.

"That … is slightly disturbing," Tom agreed after thinking about it for a moment.

"Try being on the receiving end," Harry groused with a yawn.

_'I'll never remember this,' Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming._

_Harry, who was looking up 'Dittany' in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up_

"I never understood how you could do that," Hermione sighed in resignation.

"Do what?" Blaise asked, confused.

"Harry has the ability to see and sense things that no one else would notice," Neville began in his own resignated tone.

"Yet he also has the ability to notice nothing at all," Luna finished with a giggle.

_until he heard Ron say, 'Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?'_

_Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat._

_'Jus' lookin',' he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once._

"Naturally," Severus stated, rolling his eyes.

"It would have been a more acceptable thing if he had said that one of the creatures that he was in charge of had an illness that he didn't know about and he was looking for information on it," Harry nodded his agreement.

_'An' what're you lot up ter?' He looked suddenly suspicious. 'Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?'_

_'Oh, we found out who he is ages ago,' said Ron impressively. 'And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St-'_

"I still think it's unfair of you for figuring it out the way you did," Tom said with a glare at the book.

"You're a big boy, I'm sure you'll get over it," Harry mumbled. It was evident to everyone in the room that he was fighting against sleep and was only just winning.

_'Shhhh!' Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. 'Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?'_

"He has a disease that we are trying to cure him of," Luna said with mock-sadness.

Neville nodded his head in agreement with his girlfriend. "Unfortunately, nothing we've tried has helped so far."

"What disease?" Pansy asked, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Foot-in-mouth," Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused.

Severus glanced at Harry to see why he hadn't joined in with his family, only to discover that sleep had won the battle between it and him. He gave a half-smile and transfigured the seat he was on into a king-single bed. He had an idea he thought would work. Clearing his throat, he caught everyone's attention.

"I think I have a way for Harry to get what he needs without actually having sex. It won't work as well as sex, but it should work enough that it will start to get his magic regenerating."

"Anything!" Neville pleaded. "Anything to get him back to the way he should be magic wise."

"Skin to skin contact," Severus said without hesitation. "It might just be enough to slow down the speed of what his magic is depleting. It will also work better with those not of family since it seems that he is adamant about protecting you."

"That could work," Neville mused. "Who will do it though?"

"I know that Draco will do it," Severus began. "But I also thought the rest of us would do it for a few hours a day as well – except for Narcissa, of course."

"And why not me?" Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because you are pregnant 'Cissa," Severus explained gently. "We are trying to get Harry to accept our magic to ground his, not get him to start feeding his magic into you for the babe – which could be what happens since he is so used to feeding it into Hermione."

Narcissa exhaled at the explanation. It made sense and she couldn't deny that it might occur.

"So it's agreed?" Pansy asked, looking around the room. Everyone nodded. "Then I suggest that Draco hops onto that bed with Harry after removing both their shirts so that the process can begin."

Once Draco was comfortably tucked in behind Harry with his arms wrapped around the other teen's waist, Lucius returned to the book.

_'There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact,' said Harry, 'about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy -'_

"Are you sure that Harry also doesn't suffer from the same disease?" Severus chuckled.

"No, he doesn't," Hermione responded with a slight smile at the man. "I put up a silencing barrier under the guise of practice. We needed him to invite us to his hut as we didn't want to just show up as we knew we would be followed."

"So you manipulated him into doing what you wanted him to do," Blaise asked with a short laugh.

"He doesn't mind," Luna responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "He thinks it is hilarious … well, the results anyway."

"And he doesn't get the blame for telling us anything because the exact same thing works on Professor McGonnagal, Madam Pomphrey and Mr Weasley," Neville smirked.

_'SHHHH!' said Hagrid again. 'Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh -'_

"That's because he did," Tom stated.

"Technically he didn't," Harry mumbled from the bed, eyes only just open. "He just asked how we knew about the Cerberus. All he told us was that its name was Fluffy and that one of Dumpy's best friends were involved – it didn't necessarily have to be that it was his object that was being protected, just that he was involved. For all we knew, Flamel could have been one of the people asked to help with protecting whatever it was. He is after all, an alchemist. How many people do you know could break through an alchemical barrier?" He stretched and then blinked. "And why am I in a bed with someone behind me in a public use room?"

Everyone in the room laughed, including Draco who pulled the unresisting teen closer to him.

"Severus thought that we could try skin-to-skin contact using people who weren't members of your family to see if it would help you any. If not, then I could always snog you," Draco explained, finishing on a teasing note.

"Mmmm," Harry hummed as he snuggled into the blonde and fell back asleep.

_'See you later, then,' said Harry._

_Hagrid shuffled off._

_'What was he hiding behind his back?' said Hermione thoughtfully._

_'Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?'_

_'I'm going to see what section he was in,' said Ron, who'd had enough of working._

"No surprise there," most of the people in the room chorused, trying not to laugh at the look on Draco's face as he stroked Harry's hair.

_He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table._

"I never knew why he bought them back to the table with him," Harry stated, eyes closed. "It's not as if we wouldn't have believed him if he hadn't bought proof. If it was Tom that we were investigating, I wouldn't have, but since it was Hagrid, we already knew what he was like."

_'Dragons!' he whispered._

_'Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide.'_

_'Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him,' said Harry._

"How in the world do you remember these things?" Pansy asked, looking over at the two laying in the bed.

"I thought it was interesting," Harry said with a shrug. "I was from a world where kids throw temper tantrums when they don't get a goldfish or a puppy, and here was this grown man telling me that the one thing he had always wanted was a fricken dragon!"

"I see your point," Pansy said with a laugh.

_'But it's against our laws,' said Ron. 'Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden_

"As if there weren't spells and wards to prevent muggles from seeing or hearing anything that they weren't supposed to," Hermione said scornfully, "That law was introduced because the Wizengamot didn't want to be responsible for another child being killed by the family pet after the three hundred and forty-eighth death."

_- anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania.'_

_'But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?' said Harry._

_'Of course there are,' said Ron. 'Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks._

_The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget.'_

_'So what on earth's Hagrid up to?' said Hermione._

"I don't know when to keep my mouth shut do I?" Hermione moaned.

_When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called 'Who is it?' before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them._

Lucius looked at the page before him in unveiled shock. "He didn't even wait to hear who it was?"

"No," Neville said with a stretch, "he always knows if it is us."

"Unless we are under polyjuice," Luna smirked, causing Hermione to laugh at her.

_It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate._

_Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused._

_'So - yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?'_

_'Yes,' said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. 'We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy.'_

_Hagrid frowned at him._

_'O' course I can't,' he said. 'Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy.'_

"Step one accomplished," Harry hummed in satisfaction, eyes still closed as he focused on the feeling of the hand stroking his hip and the other stroking his hair.

_'Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here,' said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice._

_Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. 'We only wondered who had done the guarding, really.' Hermione went on. 'We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you.'_

"And it's in the bag!" Hermione laughed, making Luna, Neville and Harry laugh with her.

_Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione._

_'Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that…_

_let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me… then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout - Professor Flitwick - Professor McGonagall -' he ticked them off on his fingers, 'Professor Quirrell - an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape.'_

"Trust him to forget about my contribution," Severus grumbled.

"Stop gripping Severus," Lucius, Narcissa and Tom said together, making the younger Slytherins look at them in horror.

_'Snape?'_

_'Yeah - yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it.'_

"And like good little Gryffindors, we didn't believe him," Harry chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Narcissa asked, honestly curious.

"Every year the seventh years spend the first night of term creating a short list of things that if you can keep them all then you are a good Gryffindor," Neville started to explain.

"It just so happens that there is one rule that cannot be changed from year to year and that is:" Hermione continued with a cheeky grin.

"Never believe the best of Snape, always believe the worst so you will be semi prepared for when he blows," Harry, Hermione and Neville chorus.

"So that mean you three aren't good Gryffindors then," Blaise smirked.

Harry opened his eyes for the first time and looked Blaise in the eye. "We are above the rules."

"You really do have the Slytherin obnoxiousness, don't you?" Tom laughed.

"Yes, he does," Luna smiled, "but in this case it's true. There is another list in the dorm of those people who are exempt from the rules and why."

Neville chuckled, "I'm on it because I managed to convince McGonagall to turn into her animagus form after I left the area where Harry keeps his catnip for the twins. It is so strong that you can smell it with a human nose so there was no way in hell that she didn't know where I was beforehand."

"I pranked every teacher and ghost in the school without being caught or them suspecting that it was me. In fact, the twins ended up coping the blame for all of my pranks. Oh, and I also managed to make Minnie laugh by pranking the twins with their own prank," Harry giggled.

Hermione blushed slightly when everyone looked at her in expectation. "I'm on the list for punching Draco in the face in third year. Man it felt good."

Draco blushed darkly and hid his face in Harry's hair when everyone looked in his direction.

"You punched my son?" Lucius asked in shock.

"Yes," Hermione stated, raising her head high. "The little bastard deserved it and he wasn't worth the effort magic would have needed –"

"Not to mention you'd have been expelled for doing the spell you had wanted to cast," Harry cut in with a chuckle.

"That did cross my mind, yes. I was very close to deciding that expulsion would have been worth it," Hermione grinned.

"Hermione Granger!" Harry exclaimed in mock-shock. "If I didn't know any better I would think that I was a bad influence on you."

"You are!" Severus, Draco, Blaise, Neville, Pansy and Luna called out.

Harry clapped his hands excitedly and wriggled slightly on the bed. "Good! Then I'm doing my job then."

"Looks like your idea is starting to work, Professor," Neville mutter lowly so Harry wouldn't hear him. "He is starting to repeat some of his words like he does when he's hyper. It'll be slow going, but at least it is something until Aldron can get to him."

Severus nodded and gave a half-grin to the boy.

_Harry knew Ron and Hermione were thinking the same as he was. If Snape had been in on protecting the Stone, it must have been easy to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything - except, it seemed, Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy._

_'You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy. aren't you, Hagrid?' said Harry anxiously. 'And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?'_

_'Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore,' said Hagrid proudly._

"Except for Squirrel and Voldishorts," Harry nattered as he stroked Draco's forearm with one hand. "Good kitty, nice kitty."

"You do realise that I am still sitting in the room don't you?" Tom asked, raising his eyebrow at the teen while most of the room struggled to contain their laughter at his odd behaviour. "Voldishorts indeed," he snorted.

"I know you are still sitting in the room Uncle Tommy," Harry said, rolling his eyes, "But Voldieshorts isn't."

"Is there a difference?" Tom asked, crossing his arms, trying to appear stern.

"Yes. Uncle Tommy is more blood thirst," Harry stuck his tongue out at the man before turning around and showing the room his back.

Hermione and Luna exchanged looks and giggled slightly.

_'Well, that's something,' Harry muttered to the others. 'Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling.'_

_'Can't, Harry, sorry,' said Hagrid. Harry noticed him glance at the fire. Harry looked at it, too._

"Not again," Severus muttered, holding his face in his hands. Why couldn't the brat have inherited nothing from his Father except for his instincts? Potter wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary even if Hagrid had painted a sign pointing at the fire with him dancing in a sparkly pink tutu … and wasn't that an unwelcome image. Bad mind, bad mind! He shook his head vigorously in an attempt at getting rid of it.

_'Hagrid - what's that?'_

_But he already knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg._

"I TOLD YOU!" Draco yelled, leaping out of the bed and pointing at Severus.

"Please say that he didn't?" Severus, Lucius and Narcissa pleaded, paling quickly.

"He didn't," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused, each of them sounding earnest.

"I am NEVER going to believe any of the four of you again," Severus glared. "You are all far too convincing when you lie."

"And Slytherins aren't too convincing when they tell the truth, so it evens out," Harry responded, smiling when the bed beneath him changed back into its original form.

_'Ah,' said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, 'That's - er…'_

_'Where did you get it, Hagrid?' said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. 'It must've cost you a fortune.'_

_'Won it,' said Hagrid. 'Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest.'_

"Quirrel was, I wasn't," Tom said mournfully. He, like Hagrid, had always wanted a pet dragon.

_'But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?' said Hermione._

_'Well, I've bin doin' some readin',' said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow._

_'Got this outta the library -Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit - it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here - how ter recognize diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback._

"Eurgh! Dragons!" Harry hissed distastefully. "The bain of my existence: First Norbert then the damn mama from last year. What next? I'm going to have to ride one?"

Hermione hit Harry with a silencing spell without him noticing it and so he continued ranting for several moments before he stopped abruptly and glared at the girl until she lifted it.

_They're rare, them.'_

_He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't._

_'Hagrid, you live in a wooden house,' she said._

_But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire._

_So now they had something else to worry about:_

"When don't we have more than the usual to worry about?" Harry and Hermione asked.

_what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut._

_'Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life,' Ron sighed,_

_as evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had now started making study schedules for Harry and Ron, too. It was driving them nuts._

_Then, one breakfast time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: Its hatching._

"Please give me the strength to continue being his friend," Harry begged no one in particular, rubbing at his temples.

_Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut._

_Hermione wouldn't hear of it._

_'Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?'_

"More than you'd think," Harry and Neville commented dryly.

_'We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing-'_

_'Shut up!' Harry whispered._

"I had no idea that we were talking so loudly," Hermione winced.

"You weren't. Weasley on the other hand …" Draco hinted.

Narcissa groaned. "Not again Draco. One would believe your life revolved around tormenting Harry."

"It does," Severus, Harry, Blaise, Pansy and Neville dead-panned.

_Malfoy was only a few feet away_

_and he had stopped dead to listen. How much had he heard? Harry didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all._

_Ron and Hermione argued all the way to Herbology and in the end, Hermione agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other two during morning break._

_When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited._

"Ewww!" Draco squeeled, shuddering.

"DRACO!" everyone shouted as they all turned various shades of green.

_'It's nearly out.' He ushered them inside._

_The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it._

_They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath._

_All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella._

"An umbrella," Tom deadpanned. "You thought a newly hatched dragon looked like an umbrella."

Harry looked at the older man with a blank face. "All newborns are ugly things. They need a couple of days for their skin to adapt to life outside the womb. Personally, I think they're really aliens in disguse."

"Why do you think that?" Severus asked, trying to keep his laughter in.

Harry looked at him incredulously. "They have eyes too large for their heads, are slimy and come from a hole that, logically, is far too small for them to fit through. How else would you describe them?"

All the single males in the room burst into laughter while Lucius gulped.

"Only you would have the balls to say that in front of two pregnant females," Pansy said with a grin.

"I agree with him," Hermione said with a shrug. "In fact, when he discovered I was pregnant he was all for taking me to N.A.S.A to prove that there is alien life out there."

"He is a fifteen year old male, of course he is going to think like that," Narcissa said with her own shrug at Lucius' questioning look. "If it was you however …" She grinned when she saw her husband gulp in fear. She loved it when she terrified him.

_Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes._

_It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout._

_'Isn't he beautiful?' Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs._

_'Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!' said Hagrid._

"His mummy! HIS MUMMY! More like his first meal!" Severus shouted, waving his arms around like a lunatic.

"He's yelling at the book again," Luna and Hermione giggled softly.

Severus calmed down and sat, nervously clearing his throat.

_'Hagrid,' said Hermione, 'how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?'_

_Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face - he leapt to his feet and ran to the window._

_'What's the matter?'_

_'Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains - it's a kid - he's runnin' back up ter the school.'_

_Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him._

_Malfoy had seen the dragon._

Draco looked down in shame. He had been such a bastard in the past and it wasn't until now that he realised just how bad he had truly been.

_Something about the smile lurking on Malfoy's face during the next week made Harry, Ron, and Hermione very nervous._

_They spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him._

"If he's anything like he was in school, good luck – you're going to need it," Tom stated firmly.

_'Just let him go,' Harry urged. 'Set him free.'_

"He couldn't do that!" everyone chorused, looking at Harry in shock.

"It wasn't as if I was encouraging him to just dump it in the Forbidden Forest. More along the lines of a cave …"

"HARRY, YOU DO NOT ABANDON SMALL ANIMALS!"

"I KNOW!" Harry shouted back, making everyone sit back, startled. "BUT YOU WEREN'T THE ONE THAT THE GODS BE TRICE DAMNED THING WANTED TO TURN INTO A TEDDYBEAR!"

Hermione giggled softly. "I had forgotten about that." Harry growled at her.

_'I can't,' said Hagrid. 'He's too little. He'd die.'_

_They looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in just a week. Smoke kept furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been doing his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him so busy. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor._

_'I've decided to call him Norbert,' said Hagrid,_

_looking at the dragon with misty eyes. 'He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?'_

_'He's lost his marbles,' Ron muttered in Harry's ear._

"I never believed that I would agree with a Weasley, but I do. Merlin, I do," Lucius whispered, going pale.

_'Hagrid,' said Harry loudly, 'give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment.'_

_Hagrid bit his lip._

_'I - I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't.'_

_Harry suddenly turned to Ron. 'Charlie.' he said._

_'You're losing it, too,' said Ron. 'I'm Ron, remember?'_

"He is such an ignoramus!" Harry raged. "I had never met Charlie so why would I confuse the two of them?"

_'No - Charlie - your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!'_

"That is actually an intelligent idea. Are you sure that it had only just occurred to you?" Pansy asked, impressed.

"Yeah," Harry said with a half-smile.

"I still want to know how he does it," Neville pouted.

"What do you mean, Neville?" Narcissa asked.

"The only time he had heard of Charlie before this was on the train heading to Hogwarts. It was already past Easter, so it would have been around about March or April," Hermione clarified.

Narcissa turned an appraising look in Harry's direction, saying nothing.

_'Brilliant!' said Ron. 'How about it, Hagrid?'_

_And in the end, Hagrid agreed that they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him._

_The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Hermione and Harry sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's invisibility cloak. He had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate._

"Eww, Rats!" Draco squeaked, making the students laugh at him as he blushed.

_'It bit me!' he said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief._

_'I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met,_

Harry gave a dark grin, "He doesn't think that now." He cackled with laughter while everyone else had shivers run down their spines.

_but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it._

"I would have too – but I also would have yelled at the dragon for biting him … who knows where that hand had been!" Hermione giggled.

_And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby.'_

_There was a tap on the dark window._

_'It's Hedwig!' said Harry, hurrying to let her in. 'She'll have Charlie's answer!'_

_The three of them put their heads together to read the note._

_Dear Ron,_

_How are you? Thanks for the letter - I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon._

_Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark._

_Send me an answer as soon as possible._

_Love,_

_Charlie_

_They looked at one another._

_'We've got the invisibility cloak,' said Harry. 'It shouldn't be too difficult - I think the cloaks big enough to cover two of us and Norbert.'_

_It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other two agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert - and Malfoy._

"I really was loathsome, wasn't I?" Draco sighed, defeated.

"Just a little," Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna said, showing various distances with their hands.

_There was a hitch._

_By the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size._

_He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey - would she recognize a dragon bite?_

"Yes," Harry said gleefully. "And because she wasn't told the truth, she healed it as slowly and as painfully as possible – after all, she couldn't heal it correctly if she didn't know what it was."

_By the afternoon, though, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It looked as if Norbert's fangs were poisonous._

"Of course they are," Tom said in frustration. Why wouldn't he know that?"

"Because Mr Weasley is only just smarter than the average Troll," Minerva smirked as the most feared person in the century jumped in surprise.

"MINNIE!" Harry shouted, jumping up and giving the elderly lady a giant hug.

"Hello hatchlings," she said with a smirk.

"Hey Professor," Neville greeted with a genuine smile, "What can we do for you?"

"Do I need a reason to visit my stand-in grandchildren?" Minerva asked, feigning shock.

"No," Hermione grinned. "But it does irritate the Headmaster."

"Exactly!" Minerva grinned as she took a seat. "I also needed a break and have tea with you and your newest friends."

"Ok Minnie," Harry laughed, standing. "I'll go get the service. Would you like chocolate or strawberry?"

"Strawberry if you don't mind," she requested.

When Harry had disappeared into the kitchen with a bounce in his step, Narcissa eyed the older woman.

"Why are you not rushing to report that we are here?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"Because you are not the oddest people that I have had tea with since I told Harry I was on his side," was the reply. "It is very hard to have tea with mermaids and centaurs at the same time – add goblins and leprechauns and you have the setting for a Mad Hatters Tea Party." She smiled at their expressions and hummed softly while waiting.

Only moments later, Harry walked back into the room with a trolley of tea pots, cups, milk, sugar, spoons and a large plate of strawberry drop biscuits and everyone rose to aid in the serving.

_Harry and Hermione rushed up to the hospital wing at the end of the day to find Ron in a terrible state in bed._

_'It's not just my hand,' he whispered, 'although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy_

"I cannot believe that two students can be so explosive when in the same room," Minerva stated with a shake of her head.

Severus looked at her with shock. "You knew that Harry was following Ronald's example?"

Minerva snorted through a mouthful of biscuit before managing to swallow it with the aid of a bit of tea. "Of course! The son of Lily and James Potter will always be more than he seems. Lily was almost put into Slytherin, after all." Minerva smirked at the shock on everyone's face.

Tom ignored everyone in the room as he watched Minerva as she ate, drank and conversed with those around her. He managed to shake himself out of his reverie when Elise chimed something and then a song he had never heard before started to echo in the room.

Harry and Luna started to laugh as 'Unchained Melody' started to play and Tom shrugged sheepishly in response to Lucius' and Severus' enquiring looks. Minerva just looked between the two students and the blushing Dark Lord with a raised eyebrow.

_told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me - I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me -_

"I would think not," Lucius stated, indignantly. "She wouldn't be much of a Healer if she couldn't tell the difference between a dog bite and a dragon bite."

"And add to that that the only dog on Hogwarts grounds is Fang and Severus there would kiss my Father on the lips, with tongue, before Fang would bite something that is alive – unless they threated Hagrid, of course."

"If you ever say that again, I will wash your mouth out with the most horrendous potion I can find," Severus hissed, eyes flashing dangerously, looking as though he had taken a mouthful of vinegar instead of wine.

"See, that's how gentle he is," Harry grinned. Hermione shook her head while attempting to hide her face. Her brother was going to get himself killed!

_I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this.'_

"No, he's don't it because you are simply hilarious to piss off," Harry said slowly, as though telling it to the moron himself.

"He's in THAT mood is he?" Minerva whispered to Neville.

"No, it's worse. He's in BOTH moods," he whispered back.

Minerva winced. "Oh dear. Just let me know if you need any help."

"Believe me, I will. I'm not a fool."

_Harry and Hermione tried to calm Ron down._

_'It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday,' said Hermione, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat._

"Yes," Harry said in a sad tone of voice, "He really is scared of Saturday nights. I have no idea why."

"Sure you don't," Hermione, Neville and Minerva snorted. Luna just giggled.

"But it's true," Harry said, wide-eyed with innocence. "I don't know why. They're the most fun I've ever had."

"What did you do this time, Brat?" Severus groaned.

Harry pouted. "Why does he automatically think I'm to blame?" he asked rhetorically.

"Because you always are to blame!" Hermione, Neville and Minerva shouted at him.

"True that," Harry said with an evil grin.

"Saturday nights is when Harry tests out the new inventory sent to him by the twins … and his only test subject is Ronald."

"Unless someone harms my family, then they are added too," Harry cut in. The Slytherins in the room exchanged looks and gulped at the insane look in Harry's eye.

_'Midnight on Saturday!' he said in a hoarse voice. 'Oh no oh no - I've just remembered - Charlie's letter was in that book_

"And this is why he's a Gryffindor," Minerva sighed, rubbing her forehead. "He has absolutely nothing to give the other houses. He's not cunning, smart or loyal. He's only brash, so I get stuck with him."

"Aww," Harry went and sat in Minerva's lap and pat her on the head. "Think of it this way, Kitty – If it weren't for the generousity of Gryffindor House, Ronald Weasley would have been the very first person to have ever been hung, drawn and quartered by the House of Hufflepuff …" He stopped and thought about what he had just said before crossing his arms and pouted. "Stupid House of Gryffindor," he huffed.

Minerva chuckled softly and gently pushed him off her lap before softly patting him on the cheek. "My poor, blood-thirsty hatchling," she teased as he beamed at her improved mood.

_Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert.'_

_Harry and Hermione didn't get a chance to answer. Madam Pomfrey came over at that moment and made them leave, saying Ron needed sleep._

_'It's too late to change the plan now,' Harry told Hermione. 'We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that.'_

"I do now," Draco teased softly.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Harry breathed into the blonde's ear pulling back enough to look at him through eyes with lids half-closed. Draco flushed as very inappropriate thoughts flew through his mind, only getting worse when Harry giggled and licked his lips suggestively.

"Quite it," Neville said as he gently bonked Harry on the top of his head.

"But he looks so delicious all bright red and flushed – like a vine-ripened strawberry," Harry pouted.

Neville shook his head in defeat. "Harry, you are the only fruit loop here." Harry pouted more at the other Gryffindor.

_They found Fang, the boarhound, sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them._

_'I won't let you in,' he puffed. 'Norbert's at a tricky stage - nothin' I can't handle.'_

_When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg._

"It was the reply letter," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Tom stated confidently.

_'Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot - jus' playin' - he's only a baby, after all.'_

_The baby banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle._

_Harry and Hermione walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come quickly enough._

"You and me both," Lucius and Narcissa chorused, blinking at each other in surprise before smiling.

_They would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say good-bye to Norbert if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do._

"He's always like that," Hermione sighed. "Whenever there is something important to do, he blocks everything else out except for that one thing."

"It's terrifying to watch," Neville added.

"Tell me about it," Tom muttered. "I see it all the time."

"It's your own fault Uncle Tommy," Luna said in her dreamy way. "You are the one who keeps trying to kill him for no reason."

Minerva laughed and pat the blonde girl on the head. "So adorable," she cooed.

Tom looked at Minerva with a soft smile. "Yes … adorable …"

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville exchanged smirks. Looks like someone forgot that Minerva was going to be watching this after they had left.

_It was a very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late arriving at Hagrid's hut because they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way in the entrance hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall._

Harry held up his hands. "I actuall am innocent of that one – I tried to give him a cannonball, but he wasn't interested. Apparently it wasn't fun enough."

Severus and Tom looked at Harry incredulously, making him huff.

"What?" he asked, "Destruction is fun."

Everyone blinked at him, making him pout.

"I think it's more dangerous being his frined than Hagrids," Blaise murmured quietly.

"Actually, he is the safest person to be friends with," Luna corrected "His first instinct is to protect those he loves, then attack and destroy."

_Hagrid had Norbert packed and ready in a large crate._

_'He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey,' said Hagrid in a muffled voice. 'An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely.'_

"His," Lucius chocked out.

"Teddy?" Narcissa questioned.

"Bear," Tom deadpanned.

_From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry as though the teddy was having his head torn off._

"How do you know that it was the bear's head?" Narcissa asked.

Harry grinned while Hermione moaned softly in despair. "That was bear 256,705,227 and each and every bear that came before it went the same way: Beheaded, de-eared, de-armed, de-legged then ripped into minute pieces before being lit on fir. It was a fun game to play." He smiled cutely with his eyes completely shut, making Draco and Narcissa coo at him.

"What he isn't saying," Hermione drawled dryly, "Is that 27 of those bears were destroyed by Harry before Norbert learnt how to do it. It was through him watching Harry do it that he learnt how to destroy them, then of the rest, Harry was responsible for another 230,002 of the destroyed bears. Norbert would actually drop on in his lap and look at him, just waiting for the 'game' to begin."

"I'm such a good teacher," Harry chirruped, nodding happily. "And he was such a cute pupil – so attentive!"

Draco and Pansy cleared their throat's nervously since they were the closest people to the insane teen.

_'Bye-bye, Norbert!' Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Hermione covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. 'Mommy will never forget you!'_

Minerva shook her head. "I think I need to explain to that man the differences between Mummies and Daddies."

"Why?" Harry asked, tilting his head cutely to the side. "Men here can fall pregnant, so isn't the bearer the Mother of the children? If a man can be a mummy, then why can't a half-giant be the Mother substitute to an orphaned draggie kit?"

Minerva sighed and shook her head in amusement. "I guess I see your point … but I will tell him that it doesn't mean that he can adopt a basilisk or cockatrice next time though."

"Of course, Minnie," Harry grinned before pointing a finger at both her and Tom and bouncing in his seat. "That's yours and Tommy's job!"

Tom and Minerva looked at each other and flushed deeply before lunging at Harry at the same time. "YOU LITTLE SCAMP!"

Harry laughed and danced away from the two of them, causing them to collide and land on the ground with Minerva on top of Tom.

"Ooo," Harry giggled, "Dom!Minnie. How kinky!"

Everyone else in the room either choked or covered their mouth's with their hands in shock. And he had said that Hermione couldn't keep her mouth shut?

_How they managed to get the crate back up to the castle, they never knew. Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors._

"How did you do that without alerting anyone?" Severus asked, impressed despite himself.

"I don't know," Hermione admitted.

"It always happens though," Neville put in.

"We call it the Harry Factor. Anything that is impossible becomes possible when Harry is involved," Luna finished. Harry blushed and looked down, muttering something under his breath.

_Up another staircase, then another - even one of Harry's shortcuts didn't make the work much easier._

_'Nearly there!' Harry panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower._

"He was puffing, but I was ready to DIE!" Hermione moaned melodramatically. "It's impossible to keep up with him!"

_Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the crate. Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows,_

Minerva glared at the Harry and Hermione, remembering this event vividly. Harry and Hermione just grinned and waved at her from their respective seats, making her sigh in exasperation.

_staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared. Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear._

Draco scowled and rubbed his ear, remembering the pain that it had been in the day after.

_'Detention!' she shouted. 'And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you -'_

_'You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming - he's got a dragon!'_

_'What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on - I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!'_

Minerva sighed and turned to face the boy. "I apologise, Mr Malfoy. I have come to realise that the students from this year level are all more than they appear. Harry isn't the only unique student that began here five years ago. I'm sorry to say this, but I must leave. No doubt Albus has decided to fill my lovely, empty desk with paperwork he should have had completed months ago." She smiled at everyone, ruffled a few people's hair and left, leaving a completely silent room in her wake.

_The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Hermione did a sort of jig._

Hermione blushed slightly and looked away from all the amused looks she was receiving.

_'Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!'_

_'Don't,' Harry advised her._

"She's not that bad of a singer, to be honest," Neville mused. "So I'm assuming that you said it as a caution against detection."

Harry grinned and jumped into Neville's lap and started to pinch the other boy's cheeks gently. "Smart, caring and cute! Luna lucked out!"

"Yes," she smiled, soft eyes on the boy in question. "Yes, I did, didn't I?"

_Chuckling about Malfoy, they waited, Norbert thrashing about in his crate. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness._

_Charlie's friends were a cheery lot. They showed Harry and Hermione the harness they'd rigged up, so they could suspend Norbert between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much._

_At last, Norbert was going… going… gone._

Everyone in the room cheered, even Harry and Hermione who were there in real life.

_They slipped back down the spiral staircase, their hearts as light as their hands, now that Norbert was off them. No more dragon - Malfoy in detention - what could spoil their happiness?_

"Famous last thoughts," Harry and Hermione groaned.

_The answer to that was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness._

"Now that IS scary," Narcissa said, wrinkling her nose.

_'Well, well, well,' he whispered, 'we are in trouble.''_

_They'd left the invisibility cloak on top of the tower._

Harry picked up the book closest to him and started to hit himself on the forehead with it, somehow evading Hermione, Luna and Neville as they tried to take the book from him. "How." *Smack* "Stupid." *Smack* "Am I" *smack* "To forget" *Smack* "The cloak!" *smack*

"Stop trying to do damage to the books, Brat!" Severus growled as he stood and tore the book away from the boy. "No matter what you do, we are going to read these."

Harry narrowed his eyes at the man and poked his tongue out, only to find that Severus had grabbed it and put a small dot of a bright yellow potion onto it. Harry made a face at the taste and scrambled away from the man as soon as his tongue was released.

Severus smirked and handed the potion to Neville, who added it to his collection with a nod of thanks. He had known that Severus would be the best person to dose Harry with the magic restorer.

"What are we doing now?" Pansy asked, stretching.

"We get onto the next chapter," Harry said with a yawn and a crackle of bone. "We have only 2 more days in here before we have to leave, and I want the last day to be book free!"

Everyone nodded their agreement, but also begged for a small break. Harry laughed and told them they could have a break if they wanted, he wasn't the one in charge of things.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

After everyone had stood and walked around the room a bit, they settled down into their normal seats, though it was noted that Lucius still sat as far away from Harry as was possible while still being in the same room as him.

With a sigh of resignation, Narcissa reached for the book. "I guess it is once again my turn to read."

_The Forbidden Forest_

"Oh yay," Neville said with heavy sarcasm, "My most favourite place in the world."

Harry and Hermione gave him half-smiles of agreement.

_Things couldn't have been worse._

Hermione scowled at Harry. "Only you could think that, Harry."

"What?" Harry asked defensively. "We had been caught out at night by Filch. How was I to know what detention was like in the wizarding world?"

_Filch took them down to Professor McGonagall's study on the first floor, where they sat and waited without saying a word to each other. Hermione was trembling._

Harry smiled sadly and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder as she flushed in embarrassment.

_Excuses, alibis, and wild cover- up stories chased each other around Harry's brain, each more feeble than the last._

_He couldn't see how they were going to get out of trouble this time. They were cornered. How could they have been so stupid as to forget the cloak?_

_There was no reason on earth that Professor McGonagall would accept for their being out of bed and creeping around the school in the dead of night, let alone being up the tallest astronomy tower, which was out-of-bounds except for classes._

Hermione smiled sadly up at Harry, who smiled back and squeezed her shoulder gently, letting her know that he was there and not going anywhere.

_Add Norbert and the invisibility cloak, and they might as well be packing their bags already._

_Had Harry thought that things couldn't have been worse? He was wrong. When Professor McGonagall appeared, she was leading Neville._

"Sorry Harry," Neville whispered, only just loud enough for the others in the room to hear him.

"Not your fault, Neville," Harry responded with a smile, "You did what you thought was best. You showed your two best traits that night – Bravery and Loyalty."

Neville smiled back at Harry, determination deep in his eye.

_'Harry!' Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other two. 'I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you,_

Lucius looked at Draco and raised an eyebrow. "And what, pray tell, would you have been able to do about it?"

Draco flushed and looked away, muttering something illegible.

"What you should have done," Lucius continued, "was approached a teacher and tell them what you knew and handed them the note. Then the teacher would have spoken to everyone else involved and the only person to get a stern warning would have been Hagrid – as it should have been."

"It wasn't his entire fault," Harry sighed. "Hermione and I – as well as Ronald – should have done the same thing, but much earlier. If we had one to a teacher while Norbert was still an egg the something would have been sorted out faster. The trouble was that I had no rust in any of the teachers. Severus here made it very clear that anything to do with Gryffindors or Potters was considered worthless and the one teacher we should have been encouraged to seek out in these types of circumstances always gave off an aura of being unobtainable."

Lucius sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I understand that, but it is still no excuse. He is supposed to be Slytherin and that means he should know when to go to a teacher and when to use something as black mail."

_He said you had a drag-'_

_Harry shook his head violently to shut Neville up, but Professor McGonagall had seen. She looked more likely to breathe fire than Norbert as she towered over the three of them._

"Oh I so want to see Minerva's reaction to that!" Severus laughed, picturing the scene in his mind's eye.

_'I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves.'_

Harry snorted in bemusement. "Yeah, I can just see it. 'Well, you see Minnie, Hagrid decided to play a game of cards while drunk and thought a dragon egg was worth the price of endangering every single student and teacher in this gods be trice damned school even more than the illustrious Headmaster has by having whatever was in that vault in the school."

"Yeah," Neville snorted in amusement, "Way to give her a heart attack and fuel for the fire burning within her."

_It was the first time Hermione had ever failed to answer a teacher's question._

"I couldn't think of anything to say," Hermione said softly

Harry smiled softly at her and gently pat her head, making her smile back and lean into it.

_She was staring at her slippers, as still as a statue._

_'I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on,' said Professor McGonagall. 'It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believed it, too?'_

"You've got the wrong Potter there," Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna snarled.

"That was what James Potter would have done, not Harry," Neville growled.

"Harry protects EVERYONE regardless of whom and what they are," Luna hissed.

"He is not JAMES," Hermione spat. "He is his own person. She should have said that to his Father, not him!"

Harry sighed and released a little of his magic into the air, calming the other three down. "We have already talked about this you three," He sighed, "Both with and without Minerva. It is time for us to let it go."

Lucius looked at Harry approvingly at his behaviour.

_Harry caught Neville's eye and tried to tell him without words that this wasn't true because Neville was looking stunned and hurt._

Neville growled at Harry who grinned sheepishly back at the other teen. "I wasn't hurt because I believed that Harry James Potter! I was hurt that the one adult we as a House should have been able to go to for help and guidance was accusing someone of doing something that went so far against their personal morals. It proved to me that she didn't have enough time or energy or enjoyment to take the time to get to know her students."

"I agree with Neville Harry," Luna stated. "Flitwick is the same. I frequently turned up at my lessons with him and all the other teachers missing items. First it was quills and parchment, and then grew to include uniforms, shoes, clothes and assessment items. After the first year of asking him to do something about it and only getting a pat on the arm and a 'they are only harmless pranks,' I stopped going to an adult. I looked for a spell that sent my reports to the desired teacher at a pre-set time so when they got stolen they still appeared and another spell that prevented cheating and damage so that wouldn't happen either. I asked Father to put a spell on everything so it would return to me eventually. The first person to ask me about it was Professor Lupin and for that year he allowed me to do my work in his room while he had detentions and he had me leave two complete changes of clothes – including robes, shoes and underwear – in a chest in his class room that opened at my touch and my touch alone. The only person to even mention it after he left was you and not only did you offer to help me look for everything, You spelled everything of mine to react only to me and anyone I permitted."

"You also were the one to go after each individual person who was responsible and dealt with them in a very fitting manor," Hermione continued. "That is also why we all adored Remus as a teacher. He could name every student he taught by the end of the first month and after the third could tell you their house, their friends, their rivals and their favourite foods and drinks. He took an interest in everything a student told him, and it earned him our attention and devotion."

Neville smiled and put a hand onto Harry's shoulder. "And you have the same ability:

Whether you know about it or not."

Narcissa smiled at the group … and at the blush that was forming on Harry's cheeks.

Tom whistled in awe No wonder they give him their devotion and loyalty."

Severus and Lucius nodded their agreement in shock.

"Who would have guessed that there was more to the GGB then what was shown to the world," Pansy stated softly.

"And that it led to such strong devotion," Blaise agreed.

Draco nodded as he watched Harry's eyes close as he was engulfed in a hug from all three of his companions.

_Poor, blundering Neville - Harry knew what it must have cost him to try and find them in the dark, to warn them._

Neville mock glared at Harry before making his hand into a fist and softly bonking him on the head with it, making Harry laugh wetly as he struggled to stop himself from crying.

_'I'm disgusted,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before!_

"That is a lie," Severus hissed with a scowl.

_You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense._

"Like she can talk," Hermione hissed, keeping an eye on the down-trodden Harry.

_As for you, Mr Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this._

"That was a very low blow!" Narcissa growled before grabbing at Harry and pulling him onto her lap before starting to stroke his hair as though she was patting a cat. "Stupid old cat lady," she hissed before muttering something ineligibly, "Should turn her into a pair of gloves." Once again she started muttering under her breath. "Poor little defenceless boy."

Harry sat frozen in her lap as she continued for several long moments, only blinking when he had to while Lucius, Severus and Draco tries to smother themselves in the cushions on their seats in an attempt at hiding their sniggers.

_All three of you will receive detentions_

"Which is understandable and acceptable," Hermione sighed in exasperation.

_- Yes, you too, Mr Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous_

Tom sighed, not looking at anyone in the room. "Only because of me …"

Everyone in the room stopped breathing in shock when Harry shot out of Narcissa's lap and slapped Tom across the face with a very loud painful sounding slap. "No! Not because of you but because of Dumbledore. If he hadn't bought the gods be damned thing onto school property then you wouldn't have followed it. You would have come eventually, but no until a few years later.

"Why would she say that though?" Blaise asked with a frown.

"What was that Mr Zabini?" Severus asked.

"Why would she say 'especially these days, it's very dangerous' to students as though they knew just why they were dangerous?" he expanded.

"I blame Dumpy!" Harry sang out from Narcissa's lap, where he was seated once more.

"You do know that not everything can be blamed on Dumbledore don't you?" Luna asked with an indulgent smile.

"Yes it can," Harry said with a pout.

"No it can't," Neville responded.

"Yes it can," Harry repeated slightly louder and in a stubborn voice.

"It wasn't his fault that it snowed instead of rained in the middle of winter this year," Hermione interjected.

"Yes it was," Harry said, thrusting out his chin determinedly. "He did it to spite me. I know he did."

Everyone who was watching the argument found themselves starting to once more question the sanity of one Harry James Potter.

_- and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor.'_

_'Fifty?' Harry gasped -they would lose the lead, the lead he'd won in the last Quidditch match._

_'Fifty points each,' said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long, pointed nose._

"THAT WAS UNCLALLED FOR!" Severus roared, making everyone in the room jump. "SHE ONLY TOOK TWENTY POINTS FROM DRACO FOR THE EXACT SAME THING!"

Harry started to clap enthusiastically when he was sure the man was finished. "Well done, Severus! Next time, I want you to project your voice more: We want the wizards in France to hear your marvellous voice!"

Severus blinked at the insane teen before him, his anger a distant memory. Harry just snuggled into the arms that Narcissa had thrown around him with a satisfied and somewhat smug smile on his lips.

_'Professor - please -'_

_'You can't -'_

_'Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students.'_

"And I've never been more ashamed of her," Tom whispered in an almost heartbroken voice. "Not even when she turned to and believed Dumbledore when he started sprouting all those horrid rumours about me in a successful attempt at stopping her from accepting my friendship in school."

Harry stood up from Narcissa's lap and sat in Tom's, snugging into the hug the older man gave him and whispered, "It's ok, you have us now and we won't leave you. Family stays together."

Tom hugged Harry tightly enough to make the teen squeak, making everyone – including the two of them - laugh.

_A hundred and fifty points lost. That put Gryffindor in last place. In one night, they'd ruined any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup. Harry felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. How could they ever make up for this?_

"Now that I know the full story … maybe they did deserve those points at the end of the year that year. They were mostly taken from them for no reason – she took over twice the amount of points each that she took from you, Draco," Blaise whispered.

Pansy nodded her agreement.

"Yeah," Draco half-growled, "and everyone accuses Sev of favouring us when all he does is stand by us and then punish us in private. By sounds of it, the Gryffs don't have anyone who does that for them."

"We do," Neville said softly, making the three Slytherin students jump. "You're looking at him." He turned to watch Harry before growling out, "Which makes what the Gryffindor's do to him almost every year a million times worse in my way of thinking."

_Harry didn't sleep all night. He could hear Neville sobbing into his pillow for what seemed like hours._

_Harry couldn't think of anything to say to comfort him._

"He shouldn't have had to," Lucius whispered heatedly while Severus nodded his agreement. "That was the job of a teacher – the Head of House to be exact."

_He knew Neville, like himself, was dreading the dawn. What would happen when the rest of Gryffindor found out what they'd done?_

"Pure and utter Hell," Harry, Hermione and Neville stated with a finality that sent a shiver down the spine of everyone in the room.

_At first, Gryffindors passing the giant hourglasses that recorded the house points the next day thought there'd been a mistake. How could they suddenly have a hundred and fifty points fewer than yesterday? And then the story started to spread: Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter, their hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost them all those points, him and a couple of other stupid first years._

_From being one of the most popular and admired people at the school, Harry was suddenly the most hated._

Harry growled darkly while glaring at the book, making Narcissa move nervously at the killer intent she could feel in his gaze. "What makes it worse," he stated, pronouncing every word with clipped edges, revealing how angry he really was about it, "Is that before it was revealed that it was me, Hermione and Neville who had lost the points, everyone thought that the twins were responsible for it and the entire house was PROUD OF THEM FOR DOING IT!" Harry shot up from where he was seated and started pacing the room, growling deeply with his eyes flashing, ignoring any and all attempts to calm him down.

_Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on him, because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup._

"Yes, like they couldn't get off their bums and earn points by doing their work properly and participating rather than expecting that it would be either Gryffindor or Slytherin that would get it and give up," Hermione spat bitterly. "No wonder the rest of the school sees them the way they do."

"And how is that?" Tom asked, deep in thought.

"The Puffs as seen as weak and useless and the Ravens are seen as being all theory, no prac," Draco answered with a shrug.

_Everywhere Harry went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted him._

"At least I was able to prevent the worst of the attention from going towards Hermione and Neville," Harry muttered as he collapsed onto the empty couch that appeared behind him as he started to fall.

_Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as he walked past them, whistling and cheering, 'Thanks Potter, we owe you one!'_

Blaise, Draco and Pansy all lowered their heads in shame, only to raise them again in shock when Harry spoke only just loud enough for them to hear.

"Thank you."

"What?" the three of them asked, "Why?"

Harry looked at them with his eyes glazed over as the memories took over his mind, "Because if you had been even five seconds later, you would have come across my unconscious body with my wrists slit and a knife in my chest."

Everyone in the room, including Hermione, Luna and Neville, hissed in shock or denial at his words.

_Only Ron stood by him._

"Only because he had no reason not to," Harry snorted in disgust.

_'They'll all forget this in a few weeks._

Harry, Hermione and Neville all snorted in derision at that statement.

"How long did it last?" Narcissa asked, appalled with the behaviour of the students in the school. She was now starting to seriously regret not allowing Lucius to send Draco to Durmstrang like he had wanted too.

"Til the end of the year when Harry nearly died doing 'his duty to the school," Neville hissed scathingly through his teeth as his eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

Lucius and Narcissa gaped in shock while Tom and Severus' eyes widened a fraction.

_Fred and George have lost loads of points in all the time they've been here and people still like them.'_

_'They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?' said Harry miserably._

_'Well - no,' Ron admitted._

_It was a bit late to repair the damage, but Harry swore to himself not to meddle in things that weren't his business from now on. He'd had it with sneaking around and spying._

"And how long did this last?" Severus asked win a slightly teasing tone.

"Surprisingly until after the exams," Hermione teased in reply as the both of them tried to get Harry out of the funk he had slipped into.

Harry just stared blankly at the two of them, causing them both to shake their heads in resignation.

_He felt so ashamed of himself that he went to Wood and offered to resign from the Quidditch team._

"You did WHAT?" Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Severus all shrieked in shock.

_'Resign?' Wood thundered. 'What good'll that do? How are we going to get any points back if we can't win at Quidditch?'_

_But even Quidditch had lost its fun. The rest of the team wouldn't speak to Harry during practice, and if they had to speak about him, they called him 'the Seeker.'_

Harry allowed a single tear to escape from his tremulous hold over his tear-ducts and hid his face in his knees as he curled up into a tight ball, shaking with silent sobs. Luna, Hermione and Neville exchange almost desperate looks with each other as they watched their friend with heart-broken expressions on their faces.

_Hermione and Neville were suffering, too. They didn't have as bad a time as Harry, because they weren't as well-known, but nobody would speak to them, either. Hermione had stopped drawing attention to herself in class, keeping her head down and working in silence._

"And not one Gods Forsaken hawk-eyed seasoned teacher took note of the drastic change to Hermione in their thrice-cursed pathetic classes," Harry stated angrily as he roughly wiped the tears from his face with a deep blue coth. "If it were the muggle word, it would have been picked up on straight away and something done about it, but not in the wizarding world. Every cock-sucking mother-fucking teacher ignored and hated us for something we had done to help a friend and without the full fucking story!" Harry's chest was heaving in anger as the thought of the time four years previous.

"Harry calm down!" Hermione stated, alarmed at the unnatural behaviour of her friend and Head-of-Family.

"No, not this time Mione. We got a hundred and fifty points taken from us for helping a friend and being in an out of bounds area after curfew, but we fucking well get points when we put ourselves into danger." Harry let out a laugh so bitter that everyone in the room could taste it. "They're creating a weapon. That's all I am: a gods forsaken fucking weapon that is being trained like a dog – punish behaviour you don't want while giving overly excessive rewards for the correct behaviour." He started to laugh and cry at the same time, rocking himself back and forth slowly like a mother would do to her upset child. "I'm a mutt they entered into a pure-breed dog show without training and expect to come out best-in-show." He started to shake violently and his eyes went completely blank with no white in them at all, just an eerily glowing green.

Without hesitation, Neville leapt to his feet with a syringe in his hand and quickly injected the liquid inside it into Harry's neck. He breathed a sigh of relief when Harry's eyes rolled up into the back of his skull and he collapsed onto Neville's stomach. Hermione and Luna also released sighs of relief when Neville nodded the success to the two of them.

"I hate to do this, but we need to get Aldron here and fast," Neville said, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"We can't," Luna said sadly. "He's not going to be in the country until summer and we have no way of contacting him. He left after 'Mione refused to let Harry out of her sight."

"We need the others," Hermione said brokenly. "Elise, we need a message delivered to Minnie, can you get it to her?" Hermione closed her eyes and allowed tears to fall as a scolding-like chime came from the walls surrounding them.

Luna nodded her head sadly and wrote a note before watching it disappear. Almost in a daze, Luna stumbled towards the seat that Hermione was curled up in.

Five minutes later the door to the Room of Requirement opened to admit Remus, Fred, George and Minerva, all in various states of franticness.

"Cub?" Remus asked, panting slightly. Neville pointed at the lounge where Harry was still drugged out of his mind. Without another word, Remus ran to his side and picked the boy up before sitting down and cradling him on his lap lovingly.

"What happened for a Red to be called?" Fred asked no hint of the prankster in his voice.

Elise chimed angrily and replayed everything that had happened from when Minerva had left the room. Remus, Minerva and the twins all paled drastically before Minerva, Fred and George ran over to where Remus was still cradling the boy in question.

"I never realised," Minerva whispered as tears formed in her eyes. "How could I not notice what was going on in my house, let alone the entire school? How could any of us teachers have ignored that?"

"He was go-" Fred started, going green at the thought of what could have happened due to the actions that year.

"Ing to kill himself?" George finished, going pure white so that his freckles looked like wax spots on a clean tablecloth. "He had –"

"Offered to quit Quidditch?" Fred finished.

"Did you two do it?" Remus growled, eyes glowing dangerously.. The twins fidgeted, both looking uncomfortable.

"Did you two also buy into this crap!" Remus barked demandingly.

The twins shrank into themselves and whimpered. "We were jealous. WE were third years and no matter what we did we never lost more than sixty points between us at a time, and then we find that Harry, Hermione and Neville lost a hundred and fifty points at once between them just for being out of bed."

"But we didn't know it was affecting him that badly," George said earnestly.

"He didn't show any sign that it was getting to him," Fred concluded.

Remus growled at them, most definitely not impressed with their reasoning. "HE WAS A FUCKING ELEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD WHO HAD NEARLY THE ENTIRE SCHOOL TURN ON HIM! HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU HAVE FELT?"

Once again the twins shrank back, this time with tears poling in their eyes. "We would probably have asked to be suspended or have retreated inside ourselves."

"How could he trust us after that?" Minerva said softly, looking at the teen, still horrified at what she had done.

"That's just how Harry is. Now everyone pull yourselves together so we can assure him that it is in the past and we are here for him."

Once everyone had calmed down, Neville gave Harry the antidote to the sedative he had given him and before he was completely awake, the room had surrounded the group with a wall that wouldn't allow anyone to see or hear what was going on inside it. Twenty minutes later, the walls disappeared and the four guests walked out, all of them extremely subdued.

_Harry was almost glad that the exams weren't far away. All the studying he had to do kept his mind off his misery._

Blaise blinked in confusion. "Hang on … What … He studied?"

"Yes, you know, with the books and the paper and the quills – You should try it someday," Harry snarled.

"Touchy," Blaise murmured only to pale when Harry growled menacingly at him before Luna moved behind the teen and started to massage his head, neck and shoulders.

_He, Ron, and Hermione kept to themselves, working late into the night, trying to remember the ingredients in complicated potions, learn charms and spells by heart, memorize the dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions…_

_Then, about a week before the exams were due to start, Harry's new resolution not to interfere in anything that didn't concern him was put to an unexpected test._

_Walking back from the library on his own one afternoon, he heard somebody whimpering from a classroom up ahead. As he drew closer, he heard Quirrell's voice._

Tom paled, knowing that it implicated him.

_'No - no - not again, please -_

_It sounded as though someone was threatening him. Harry moved closer._

_'All right - all right -' he heard Quirrell sob._

"Oh Salazar, you heard that?" Tom moaned, dropping his head onto the table before him.

~Yes~ Harry hissed sleepily in parseltongue, too lazy to attempt to pronounce the simple word in English.

_Next second, Quirrell came hurrying out of the classroom straightening his turban. He was pale and looked as though he was about to cry. He strode out of sight; Harry didn't think Quirrell had even noticed him._

"He hadn't," Tom muttered, slightly put out. "And neither did I."

_He waited until Quirrell's footsteps had disappeared, then peered into the classroom. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Harry was halfway toward it before he remembered what he'd promised himself about not meddling._

_All the same, he'd have gambled twelve Philosopher's Stones that Snape had just left the room, and from what Harry had just heard, Snape would be walking with a new spring in his step - Quirrell seemed to have given in at last._

Hermione snorted loudly, waking Harry up from the doze that he had just drifted into. "It is safe to gamble against Harry, unless there are Goblins involved," she chuckled.

Harry gave a grin as he blinked himself into wakefulness. "That's because it's in the rules to cheat when gambling with goblins. For some reason, wizards look down on cheating unless you are older and/or more dangerous than they are."

"Harry, you ARE more dangerous than those you gamble with," Neville snorted in amusement. "You're even more dangerous due to the fact that you look so innocent – even your bad mood face is cute for crying out loud!"

Harry pouted at everyone as they laughed. "Is not," he huffed, making them laugh harder.

_Harry went back to the library, where Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy. Harry told them what he'd heard._

_'Snape's done it, then!' said Ron. 'If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell -'_

_'There's still Fluffy, though,' said Hermione._

_'Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid,' said Ron, looking up at the thousands of books surrounding them. 'I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Harry?'_

"Study," Harry and Hermione deadpanned.

_The light of adventure was kindling again in Ron's eyes, but Hermione answered before Harry could._

_'Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure.'_

"Argh!" Hermione screamed, "Just how pathetic was I?"

_'But we've got no proof!' said Harry. 'Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor - who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked._

_Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining.'_

"That was actually very well thought out," Severus stated, blinking in surprise.

"I know, right?" Hermione agreed dryly.

"OI!" Harry protested.

"Come on Harry," Neville teased with a cheeky grin, "You know all your best ideas are spur of the moment."

"And you lack the emotion and vocabulary to express your thoughts at the best of times," Luna added her two cents worth in.

" … Shut up," Harry pouted.

"Oh how cute!" Narcissa squealed softly, making Tom, Lucius, Draco and Severus look at her like they were deer caught in the lumos spell.

_Hermione looked convinced, but Ron didn't._

_'If we just do a bit of poking around -'_

_'No,' said Harry flatly, 'we've done enough poking around.'_

Pansy whistled her surprise. "Damn, he was intent of keeping his head down, wasn't he?"

_He pulled a map of Jupiter toward him and started to learn the names of its moons._

_The following morning, notes were delivered to Harry, Hermione, and Neville at the breakfast table. They were all the same:_

_Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight._

_Meet Mr Filch in the entrance hall._

_Professor McGonagall_

"Hold on," Lucius interrupted, eyes narrowed. "Not only did you lose points and get a detention for being out after curfew, but your detention was set for after curfew?"

"Yep," Harry, Hermione, Draco and Neville chorused flatly.

_Harry had forgotten they still had detentions to do in the furore over the points they'd lost. He half expected Hermione to complain that this was a whole night of studying lost, but she didn't say a word. Like Harry, she felt they deserved what they'd got._

"But you didn't," Severus said softly; almost mournfully, "The points taken should have been enough. I understand Draco getting both, but he only lost twenty points, not fifty."

_At eleven o'clock that night, they said good-bye to Ron in the common room and went down to the entrance hall with Neville. Filch was already there - and so was Malfoy. Harry had also forgotten that Malfoy had gotten a detention, too._

_'Follow me,' said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside._

_'I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?' he said, leering at them. 'Oh yes… hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me… It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out… hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case there ever needed… Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do.'_

Hermione shivered slightly. "That night was the first time I ever felt scared of Harry," she said softly.

"Why?" Severus and Lucius asked.

"As soon as Filch said that, Harry glared at him and his eyes were glowing like they were before I got the sedative into him," Neville responded when it became evident that Hermione refused to say anything.

"I thought that someone's wand was preparing to A.K. someone," Draco gulped softly. "That was his EYES?"

Hermione and Neville nodded seriously.

"He could have TRIED to do that to me, but the second he tried it on Hermione, Neville or Draco he'd have had to get through me first!" he hissed hatefully.

"Why Draco?" Tom asked. "I thought you didn't like him."

"He was a Prat but not even he deserved that punishment." Harry stated in a no nonsense tone.

_They marched off across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing. Harry wondered what their punishment was going to be. It must be something really horrible, or Filch wouldn't be sounding so delighted._

"Now that is a man who has problems," Harry muttered loud enough for the entire room to hear. Hermione, Neville and Luna laughed

_The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout._

_'Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started.'_

_Harry's heart rose; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad. His relief must have showed in his face, because Filch said, 'I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy - it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece.'_

"THEY SENT YOU WHERE?" Lucius, Narcissa, Severus and Tom all shouted in shock.

_At this, Neville let out a little moan, and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks._

_'The forest?' he repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. 'We can't go in there at night - there's all sorts of things in there - werewolves, I heard.'_

"No, that's not until third year," Harry said, throwing a lop-sided grin at the blonde teen.

_Neville clutched the sleeve of Harry's robe and made a choking noise._

"What?" Neville asked when he noticed the looks thrown his way. "Harry is the best person to grab a hold of when there is danger around."

"I wasn't in fourth year," Harry growled.

"When he grabbed you and the cup there was no danger around," Neville stated stubbornly.

Harry sighed. "I give up."

"Good," Neville stated firmly. "Now all we have to do is get you to believe it."

_'That's your problem, isn't it?' said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. 'Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?'_

Harry suddenly turned a brilliant shade of green and ran for the door that hid the bathroom from view. When he returned, it was to a frantic Hermione. "What's wrong Harry? Do you feel sick? Of course you do, you just threw up … What can we do to help?"

"I'm fine now, Mione," Harry rasped. "I had just realised something horrible."

"What was it Harry?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"He's Umbitches' perfect man."

Hermione, Neville and Luna all turned the same shade of green that Harry had turned and raced to the bathroom.

"I'll need someone to scorgify my brain," Neville moaned piteously.

"No, If I have to live with the images, then so do you," Harry said with finality.

_Hagrid came striding toward them out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder._

Lucius, Narcissa and Severus all turned pale, and it surprised no one when Lucius pulled Draco closer to them as Narcissa continued to read, allowing one hand to rest on her son's knee.

_'Abou' time,' he said. 'I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?'_

_'I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid,' said Filch coldly, 'they're here to be punished, after all.'_

_'That's why yer late, is it?' said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. 'Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here.'_

_'I'll be back at dawn,' said Filch, 'for what's left of them,' he added nastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness._

"You are right, Harry," Severus stated with a look of disgust on his face. "He does have problems.

"You can talk," Tom snorted with amusement.

"I have only envisioned students as potions ingredients – never hoped for their deaths," Severus stated blankly.

"Aww, but Sevvie," Harry whined, pouting and giving the largest puppy eyes that anyone in the room had ever seen, "Can't you make an exception? I'm sure that Ron's head would look simply lovely in a bottle in your office … We could even turn his hair silver and his skin green for you if you'd like."

Neville face palmed several times while Luna giggled and Hermione shook her head in amusement.

Severus blinked at Harry who somehow managed to make the puppy eyes of doom grow even more large and cute and innocent, transforming them into demon kitty eyes of doom. Severus looked away as quickly as he could and, very wisely, refused to open his mouth to say anything.

_Malfoy now turned to Hagrid._

_'I'm not going in that forest,' he said, and Harry was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice._

"Before anyone kills me for my thoughts," Harry stated, raising his hands in the world-wide symbol of being unarmed or surrendering, "I was pleased to hear that he could have an emotion other than scorn."

_'Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts,' said Hagrid fiercely. 'Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it.'_

_'But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd-'_

_'-tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts,' Hagrid growled. 'Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone?_

_Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on.'_

I have to partially agree with him. You did do wrong and have to deal with the punishment, but not when it means going into the Forbidden Forest at night. It is Forbidden for a reason," Lucius stated coldly – more at the fact that he was agreeing with Hagrid then at his son.

_Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously, but then dropped his gaze._

_'Right then,' said Hagrid, 'now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment.'_

"Then what the Hell were you doing taking first ears in there?" Tom shouted incredulously.

Harry raised an eyebrow in Tom's direction. "Do you think you can talk? We were in there because of you, after all."

Tom cleared his throat and fidgeted slightly. "Well, technically, it was Quirrel …" he started before Narcissa glared at him. Without hesitation, a small 'Meep' made its way out of Tom's mouth as he quickly hid behind his seat.

Hermione and Harry blinked slightly.

"Did he just?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I do believe he did," Harry answered

"Oh, okay then," Hermione closed, making everyone look at them strangely.

_He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest._

_'Look there,' said Hagrid, 'see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery.'_

_'And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?' said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice._

"If you hadn't have asked, then I would have," Harry reassured the slightly blushing Draco. Draco smiled softly at Harry and nodded his understanding.

_'There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang,_

"Yeah, right," Harry snorted in disbelief.

_' said Hagrid._

_'An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least.'_

_'I want Fang,' said Malfoy quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth._

_'All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward,' said Hagrid. 'So me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Neville, an' Fang'll go the other._

"That's a bad combination," Severus, Blaise and Pansy groaned

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Harry, Hermione and Neville asked dryly.

_Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now - that's it - an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh - so, be careful - let's go.'_

_The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path, and Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid took the left path while Malfoy, Neville, and Fang took the right._

"Literally," Harry and Draco chorused before smiling at each other.

_They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves._

_Harry saw that Hagrid looked very worried._

_'Could a werewolf be killing the unicorns?' Harry asked._

_'Not fast enough,' said Hagrid. 'It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before.'_

_They walked past a mossy tree stump. Harry could hear running water; there must be a stream somewhere close by._

"And there he goes noticing everything yet again," Hermione exclaimed with a mix of exasperation and amusement.

_There were still spots of unicorn blood here and there along the winding path._

_'You all right, Hermione?' Hagrid whispered. 'Don' worry, it can't've gone far if it's this badly hurt, an' then we'll be able ter - GET BEHIND THAT TREE!'_

_Hagrid seized Harry and Hermione and hoisted them off the path behind a towering oak. He pulled out an arrow and fitted it into his crossbow, raising it, ready to fire. The three of them listened. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground._

Tom looked at Harry as though he had never seen him before. "You not only heard that, but could tell it was a cloak over leaves?"

Harry nodded, stifling a yawn.

"Damn … Can I give up the war now?" Tom pleaded, almost desperately. "I'd rather not make even more of a fool of myself then I already have."

Harry smirked quickly before turning his facial features into that of an innocent child. "But Uncle Tommy, you do such a wonder job of it."

Laughter filled the room as Tom groaned and hid his very red face in his hands.

_Hagrid was squinting up the dark path, but after a few seconds, the sound faded away._

_'I knew it,' he murmured. 'There's summat in here that shouldn' be.'_

_'A werewolf?' Harry suggested._

_'That wasn' no werewolf an' it wasn' no unicorn, neither,' said Hagrid grimly. 'Right, follow me, but careful, now.'_

_They walked more slowly, ears straining for the faintest sound. Suddenly, in a clearing ahead, something definitely moved._

_'Who's there?' Hagrid called. 'Show yerself - I'm armed!'_

Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance.

_And into the clearing came - was it a man, or a horse?_

_To the waist, a man, with red hair and beard, but below that was a horse's gleaming chestnut body with a long, reddish tail. Harry and Hermione's jaws dropped._

_'Oh, it's you, Ronan,' said Hagrid in relief. 'How are yeh?'_

_He walked forward and shook the centaur's hand._

_'Good evening to you, Hagrid,' said Ronan. He had a deep, sorrowful voice. 'Were you going to shoot me?'_

_'Can't be too careful, Ronan,' said Hagrid, patting his crossbow. 'There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Harry Potter an' Hermione Granger, by the way. Students up at the school. An' this is Ronan, you two. He's a centaur.'_

_'We'd noticed,' said Hermione faintly._

_'Good evening,' said Ronan. 'Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?'_

_'Erm -'_

_'A bit,' said Hermione timidly._

"A bit" Blaise said, starting to hyperventilate slightly. "A bit? If she only learns 'A bit' then the rest of us learn zip, nadda, nothing, zero …"

Pansy quickly covers his mouth with her hand, stopping his rant. "We get the point."

Harry and Hermione grinned at the other boy as he looked away from them in embarrassment.

_'A bit. Well, that's something.' Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. 'Mars is bright tonight.'_

"War," Harry, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Pansy stated together.

_'Yeah,' said Hagrid, glancing up, too. 'Listen, I'm glad we've run inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt - you seen anythin'?'_

_Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upward, then sighed again._

_'Always the innocent are the first victims,' he said. 'So it has been for ages past, so it is now.'_

_'Yeah,' said Hagrid, 'but have yeh seen anythin' Ronan? Anythin' unusual?'_

_'Mars is bright tonight,' Ronan repeated, while Hagrid watched him impatiently. 'Unusually bright.'_

_'Yeah, but I was meanin' anythin' unusual a bit nearer home,' said Hagrid. 'So yeh haven't noticed anythin' strange?'_

_Yet again, Ronan took a while to answer. At last, he said, 'The forest hides many secrets.'_

_A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his bow again, but it was only a second centaur, black-haired and - bodied and wilder-looking than Ronan._

_'Hullo, Bane,' said Hagrid. 'All right?'_

_'Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?'_

_'Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? There's a unicorn bin injured - would yeh know anythin' about it?'_

_Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skyward. 'Mars is bright tonight,' he said simply._

_'We've heard,' said Hagrid grumpily. 'Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh? We'll be off, then.'_

_Harry and Hermione followed him out of the clearing, staring over their shoulders at Ronan and Bane until the trees blocked their view._

_'Never,' said Hagrid irritably, 'try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon.'_

_'Are there many of them in here?' asked Hermione._

_'Oh, a fair few… Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but they're good enough about turnin' up if ever I want a word. They're deep, mind, centaurs… they know things… jus' don' let on much.'_

Harry snorted. "They give you everything you need to know. You just need to know how to decipher it."

"So … what was that conversation about?" Narcissa asked, completely confused about what had been said.

"The brighter Mars is, the closer war is. Wars start with the most innocent of things dying – animals, children, civilians … this time it was the unicorns and there were many things in the forest that shouldn't have been in there that night – one of which may or may not have been responsible for the deaths of the innocent." Harry said much to Pansy's pleasant surprise.

"Wow," Blaise stated when Pansy nodded her agreement to Harry's interpretation.

_'D'you think that was a centaur we heard earlier?' said Harry._

Hermione smacked Harry in the arm and glared at him.

"What?" he asked, indignantly. "I had to make sure that he and I were on the same page, didn't I?"

_'Did that sound like hooves to you? Nah, if yeh ask me, that was what's bin killin' the unicorns - never heard anythin' like it before.'_

"YOU WERE HEARING IT THE ENTIRE TIME THAT WE WERE IN THERE WITH YOU!" Harry and Hermione yelled at the book.

_They walked on through the dense, dark trees. Harry kept looking nervously over his shoulder. He had the nasty feeling they were being watched._

"If you were getting the feeling, then you were being watched," Neville stated, paling slightly.

"You were," Tom stated shamefaced.

_He was very glad they had Hagrid and his crossbow with them. They had just passed a bend in the path when Hermione grabbed Hagrid's arm._

_'Hagrid! Look! Red sparks, the others are in trouble!'_

"If this has anything to do with you pulling a prank Draco, then you will be doing two months of punishment and we will let Severus decide on it," Narcissa hissed as she lowered the book slightly to glare at her son. Draco paled and whimpered softly.

_'You two wait here!' Hagrid shouted. 'Stay on the path, I'll come back for yeh!'_

"HE LEFT YOU THERE ALONE?" Narcissa and Severus shouted both appalled.

_They heard him crashing away through the undergrowth and stood looking at each other, very scared, until they couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves around them._

"I might have been terrified, but Harry was only weary, Hermione snorted, amused.

"I was scared to, you know," Harry pouted.

"U-huh," Hermione stated, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms across her chest. "If you call putting an arm around me murmuring that nothing's going to happen while wearing a comforting smile as being scared, then yeah, you were bloody catatonic."

_'You don't think they've been hurt, do you?' whispered Hermione._

_'I don't care if Malfoy has,_

"Hey!" Draco pouted.

"Hush Dragon, he's got a point," Narcissa commanded absent-mindedly.

Draco pouted.

_but if something's got Neville… it's our fault he's here in the first place.'_

Neville started to throw peanuts at Harry. "It."

He threw another handful. "Was."

And another. "NOT."

Harry ducked a hazelnut that time. "Your."

Neville threw another handful of peanuts. "Fault."

Harry winced when one of the nuts hit him in the eye, making Neville stop throwing them, but still ranting. "That I was there!"

_The minutes dragged by. Their ears seemed sharper than usual. Harry's seemed to be picking up every sigh of the wind, every cracking twig. What was going on? Where were the others?_

_At last, a great crunching noise announced Hagrid's return._

Hermione, Neville and Draco laughed as Harry tuned bright red.

"What happened?" Narcissa sighed in exasperation. This chapter was never going to be finished at this rate.

"Harry heard us coming, but wasn't expecting Fang to head straight for him and as soon as the poor creature stuck his nose into Harry's hand, he almost jumped as high as Hagrid is tall.," Neville said, laughing.

Harry blushed deeper.

_Malfoy, Neville, and Fang were with him. Hagrid was fuming. Malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked up behind Neville and grabbed him as a joke. Neville had panicked and sent up the sparks._

"I will have a list of punishments for your perusal, Narcissa," Severus stated, eyes narrowed as he looked at his godson.

Narcissa nodded her thanks and Draco whimpered softly.

_'We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups - Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione, Harry, you go with Fang an' this idiot._

"Damn, he's still a good judge of character of those he doesn't believe he owes something to," Tom stated mournfully.

_I'm sorry,' Hagrid added in a whisper to Harry, 'but he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done.'_

_So Harry set off into the heart of the forest with Malfoy and Fang. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Harry thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker._

_There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. Harry could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak._

_'Look -' he murmured, holding out his arm to stop Malfoy._

"Even after everything he put you through to this point, you still prevent him from going into danger?" Lucius asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"So I'm supposed to save Gryffs, Huffs and Ravens but leave Slyths to die," Harry stated dryly, making Lucius blush at how his words had been taken. "Sorry, I don't do Fumblebutt style."

Hermione, Luna and Neville chuckled softly at the look of utter disdain of Harry's face at being compared to the Headmaster.

_Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer._

_It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead._

_Harry had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves._

_Harry had taken one step toward it when a slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered… Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Harry, Malfoy, and Fang stood transfixed._

"It was so horrifying you just couldn't look away. Like watching a Seeker crash into the ground. You know it'll happen but you can't tear your eyes away from it," Harry said as though he had been hypnotised.

Luna nodded her agreement. "Like watching Harry kick Ron in the nuts – but that is so much more enjoyable."

Everyone chocked on their next breath when she said that. She just looked so innocent.

_The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood._

_'AAAAAAAAAARGH!'_

"That was Draco," Narcissa, Lucius and Severus chorused.

"Hey!" Draco shouted in part denial.

_Malfoy let out a terrible scream and bolted - so did Fang. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry - unicorn blood was dribbling down its front._

_It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Harry - he couldn't move for fear._

Everyone looked at Harry who just raised an eyebrow at their questioning looks.

_Then a pain like he'd never felt before pierced his head; it was as though his scar were on fire._

"Does this happen often?" Tom asked with a thoughtful frown.

"It hasn't happened since we started reading the books," Harry said. "Now I think it might be only if you touch me."

Tom frowned deeper, trying to work out what it could be.

_Half blinded, he staggered backward. He heard hooves behind him, galloping, and something jumped clean over Harry, charging at the figure._

_The pain in Harry's head was so bad he fell to his knees. It took a minute or two to pass._

"Was it as bad in the graveyard?" Tom hesitantly asked.

Harry paled slightly. "It was worse."

Tom also paled. "Then how …?"

"Just grin and bear it," Harry responded with what looked to be a grin, but was really him clenching his teeth with his lips held out away from any damage that could happen to them.

_When he looked up, the figure had gone. A centaur was standing over him, not Ronan or Bane; this one looked younger; he had white-blond hair and a palomino body._

"Firenze!" Pansy, Harry and Luna chorused happily.

"Who?" Tom, Lucius and Narcissa asked.

"This year's replacement divination teacher for Trelawney," Severus said with a roll of his eyes.

_'Are you all right?' said the centaur, pulling Harry to his feet._

_'Yes - thank you - what was that?'_

_The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires. He looked carefully at Harry, his eyes lingering on the scar that stood out, livid, on Harry's forehead._

"Even amongst the freaking Centaurs," Harry muttered darkly, patting his fringe down absentmindedly. Hermione giggled at him before patting his hand in what was supposed to be a consoling gesture.

_'You are the Potter boy,' he said._

_'You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time - especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way._

"Hang on … What?" Lucius spluttered.

_My name is Firenze,' he added, as he lowered himself on to his front legs so that Harry could clamber onto his back._

Pansy, Blaise, Narcissa, Lucius, Severus and Tom stared at Harry incredulously.

"You rode a Centaur," Pansy asked, her voice cracking at the end.

"Yeeeeeees," Harry drew out, looking at her uncomfortably.

"And you aren't shocked," Blaise continued, pointing at Hermione, Neville, Luna and Draco.

"I was there, remember?" Draco stated, making Blaise blush slightly.

"When it comes to Harry," Neville began.

"Nothing is impossible," Neville, Luna and Hermione finished.

_There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.'_

_'Firenze!' Bane thundered. 'What are you doing? You have a human on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?'_

"As if Firenze could ever be just a common mule: He's the one who we organised the treaty through." Harry said with slight disgust at Bane.

"Really? Why?" Severus asked.

Hermione smirked at the intrigued man. "He is the oldest son of the herd Chieftain."

"Then why was he kicked from the herd?" Severus asked, voice rising in pitch.

"Jealousy," Neville said with a shrug. "Before Firenze was born, Bane as the next to get the Chieftainship."

_'Do you realize who this is?' said Firenze. 'This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves this forest, the better.'_

_'What have you been telling him?' growled Bane. 'Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?'_

"Oh how rich," Harry said, bursting into peals of laughter. "He's the one who was going against it. It will be such a pleasure to aid Firenze in destroying Bane." He smirked in satisfaction.

_Ronan pawed the ground nervously. 'I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best,' he said in his gloomy voice._

_Bane kicked his back legs in anger._

_'For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!'_

_Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger, so that Harry had to grab his shoulders to stay on._

_'Do you not see that unicorn?' Firenze bellowed at Bane. 'Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must.'_

Tom winced while Pansy's eyes went wide. "Such powerful words," she whispered, almost entranced.

Harry looked at the Slytherin girl shrewdly. "You don't take divination do you Pansy?" he asked.

"No, my grandmother teaches me during the summer."

"If you don't mind me asking, do you have an animagus form or a creature form?"

Pansy grinned at the now shy teen. "Yes, I have both. I have a horse as an animagus form and I can change into a centauress … but only after I meet my mate for the first time."

Harry grinned at the slight disappointment he heard in the girl's voice. "I think I may know who your mate is … It isn't a definite, but a very big possibility …"

Pansy grinned at him, full of happiness.

_And Firenze whisked around; with Harry clutching on as best he could, they plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind them._

_Harry didn't have a clue what was going on._

_'Why's Bane so angry?' he asked. 'What was that thing you saved me from, anyway?'_

_Firenze slowed to a walk, warned Harry to keep his head bowed in case of low-hanging branches, but did not answer Harry's question. They made their way through the trees in silence for so long that Harry thought Firenze didn't want to talk to him anymore. They were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Firenze suddenly stopped._

"He's actually going to tell you?" Narcissa asked, shocked.

"Yes. He's the only one who told me anything that was going on. He still does," Harry said with a secretive smile as his eyes darted quickly back to Pansy.

"You didn't know anything?" Tom asked, shocked.

Harry snorted. "I didn't even know why you came after me in the first place until the night Sirius died." He scoffed bitterly, "Even though I asked the reason when I was eleven."

Tom looked at him with his mouth wide open.

_'Harry Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?'_

_'No,' said Harry, startled by the odd question. 'We've only used the horn and tail hair in Potions.'_

"For very good reason," Severus stated.

"What if the blood is freely given?" Harry asked, head tilted to the side curiously.

Severus blinked at the question, giving it serious thought. "I have no idea. No one has ever had freely given unicorn blood before."

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville all exchanged looks before they each reached into a secret compartment in the chairs they were seated in and pulled out a large vial of unicorn blood each. Severus almost drooled while everyone else just stared at it with wide eyes.

_'That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn,' said Firenze. 'Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenceless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.'_

"But freely given unicorn blood does the exact same thing, but without the curse since the unicorn wasn't killed or really harmed in the extraction," Harry stated, much to the interest of the others.

_Harry stared at the back of Firenze's head, which was dappled silver in the moonlight._

_'But who'd be that desperate?' he wondered aloud. 'If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?'_

"Just because you are so good at dealing in it," Luna pouted, making Harry grin.

"You give me far too much credit, my Lady," he stated, flirtatiously.

Neville growled playfully as he pulled a giggling Luna into his lap.

"Ooo, I love it when you go all caveman on me," Luna teased Neville, who just grinned.

_'It is,' Firenze agreed, 'unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else - something that will bring you back to full strength and power - something that will mean you can never die. Mr Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?'_

_'The Philosopher's Stone! Of course - the Elixir of Life! But I don't understand who -'_

_'Can you think of nobody who has waited many years to return to power, who has clung to life, awaiting their chance?'_

"Aww, he told you," Tom whined with a pout.

"What are you … Three?" Harry responded with a look of disbelief on his face.

_It was as though an iron fist had clenched suddenly around Harry's heart. Over the rustling of the trees, he seemed to hear once more what Hagrid had told him on the night they had met: 'Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.'_

Hermione picked up one of the other books that were to be found lying around on the ground and started to hit Harry with it, making him yelp in shock more than pain. "Why do you remember this type of stuff, but not anything concerning school?"

"Because stuff concerning school work isn't hazardous to my life," Harry responded as he tried to fend off the hormonal woman, much to everyone's amusement.

"That's true enough," Neville said as he stepped in to help calm Hermione down. "Unless you count potions."

"That class is hazardous to my health, not my life,:" Harry said dryly, making Narcissa chuckle softly at the pout on Severus' face.

_'Do you mean,' Harry croaked, 'that was Vol-'_

_'Harry! Harry, are you all right?'_

_Hermione was running toward them down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind her._

_'I'm fine,' said Harry, hardly knowing what he was saying. 'The unicorn's dead, Hagrid, it's in that clearing back there.'_

Draco looked at Harry with a mixture of awe and devotion, a combination what had Harry shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"What?" Harry snapped after several long minutes.

"You had all that happen to you and even more dumped onto you … How in the name of Merlin and Morgana did you stay so calm?" he eventually asked. Harry just shrugged uncomfortably.

_'This is where I leave you,' Firenze murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn. 'You are safe now.'_

_Harry slid off his back._

_'Good luck, Harry Potter,' said Firenze. 'The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times.'_

_He turned and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Harry shivering behind him._

_Ron had fallen asleep in the dark common room, waiting for them to return. He shouted something about Quidditch fouls when Harry roughly shook him awake._

_In a matter of seconds, though, he was wide-eyed as Harry began to tell him and Hermione what had happened in the forest._

"He was so jealous of the 'Adventure' we had just had that he vowed to get into as much trouble as he could with you," Neville told Harry dryly.

Harry snorted. "He got over it in second year."

_Harry couldn't sit down. He paced up and down in front of the fire. He was still shaking._

"Harry has two thinking fazes," Hermione said with a fond smile at her friend. "One where he will not sit still, and the other is when he will not move a single muscle for a long period of time."

_'Snape wants the stone for Voldemort… and Voldemort's waiting in the forest… and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich…'_

_'Stop saying the name!' said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them._

Tom giggled softly before quickly covering his mouth with both hands and looking around at the people in the room with eyes as wide as his at the unexpected sound.

_Harry wasn't listening._

"As per usual," Harry announced proudly, making Hermione giggle softly in the background.

_'Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so… Bane was furious… he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen… They must show that Voldemort's coming back… Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me… I suppose that's written in the stars as well.'_

"NOOOOOO!" Tom screamed out, making everyone jump and hugging a pillow to his chest. I'm not going there! You can't make me! You're scary when you fight … and when you lose your temper … and when you stare blankly at someone …" Tom fidgeted slightly and squeaked "Much like you are doing now …"

Harry raised an eyebrow at Tom who quickly hid his face in the pillow in his arms. Silence flooded the room as everyone just stared at Tom incredulously.

_'Will you stop saying the name!' Ron hissed._

_'So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone,' Harry went on feverishly, 'then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off… Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy.'_

"Oh yes, very happy," Luna said as she wrinkled her nose distastefully. "He wants me and Hermione as pets."

"Over my dead and decaying body!" Harry snapped, eyes flashing a brilliant green.

"No," Luna giggled, "Over Bane's dead and decaying body."

Harry grinned shark-like at the thought of that, making everyone in the room shudder.

_Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort._

_'Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of, with Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic.'_

"Imprecise by dangerous, none the less," Luna stated.

"I know Sweetie," Hermione said softly, running her fingers through Luna's hair. "It's even more dangerous for those who practice it incorrectly."

Harry and Neville nodded their agreement. "Like Trelawney."

_The sky had turned light before they stopped talking._

"You talked until Dawn," Severus asked them in a monotone voice.

"Yep," Harry answered, smirking slightly when the pure-bloods winced.

"And your Head of House didn't come in to check on you?" Narcissa asked.

"Nope," Neville answered this time, also hiding a smirk at the wince.

_They went to bed exhausted, their throats sore. But the night's surprises weren't over._

"What now?" Everyone groaned, the same thing going through their heads.

_When Harry pulled back his sheets, he found his invisibility cloak folded neatly underneath them. There was a note pinned to it:_

_Just in case._

"He knew about it all?" Lucius growled

"Yeah," Harry Hermione and Neville sighed. "He knew and we still got the detentions and the points removed."

Narcissa gently closed the book and placed it onto the table before her. "I vote that we have a break for a while – Not just a five minute one, but one where we can move around for a while. I," she announced, "Am going to steal Hermione, Luna and Pansy and we are going to have a bath in the communal bath. If you need to use the toilets … ask for another room." She smirked at the blinking men and walked towards the door that had just appeared, pulling Hermione and Luna behind her as a chuckling Pansy followed.

"Since a break was mentioned," Neville stated, "I could really do with a nap …" Standing, he walked to the door leading to the sleeping chamber, closing it softly behind him.

"I could do with playing a game of something …" Blaise began, only to blink when a house-elf popped in with a chess set and a set of exploding snap cards. Tom quickly grabbed the chess set and began setting it up as Severus moved a chair to the other side of the table so he could play. Draco and Blaise shrugged and moved to the other side of the room where the explosions of the cards wouldn't irritate the two older men.

Lucius looked between the two groups before noticing Harry disappear into a room that wasn't there only a moment before. Curious, he followed the teen only for his jaw to drop at the sight before him.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Harry was seated cross-legged on the floor with no shirt on and facing away from the door. The room that had appeared was made almost completely of a silver-black stone that gleamed in the light of the small fire that was shining from both of Harry's hands.

Lucius gulped as he entered the room as silently as he could, allowing the door to close softly behind him. As he watched the teen before him, he noticed that the flames were never still. They slowly changed between herbivorous animals and the plants they feed upon. As time went on, the forms changed faster and faster and grew larger and larger until both fires engulfed the teen.

Lucius started forward, but froze in his tracks as Harry stood and started to move with slow, hypnotic motions. The blonde man was speechless as each movement made the flames surrounding the boy dance while the walls had the same effect as a mirror, showing a never-ending line of flame-covered Harry's stretching in all directions.

In what felt like minutes, but could have been hours – the flames around the boy started to die off. Lucius looked around the room in wonder as this had a new affect. The walls were now patterned in both light and shadowed sections which seemed to be telling a story that he could not quite figure out.

Staring at the closest area, Lucius chocked on the breath he had just inhaled as the picture became exceedingly clear to his eyes. There, right before his eyes, the effect of the dying flames cast light and shadow people in various positions of coitus. Not waiting to see more, Lucius left the room.

Ten minutes later, when Harry exited the room, Lucius refused to look at him while also refusing to talk about where he had been in the three hours that he had been missing. He also ignored the knowingly amused looks that Harry's little group were throwing at him.

"So," Harry drawled, "are we going to continue? I believe we have two chapters of the book left to read. If we can get through them before we go to sleep, we can sleep tomorrow before we leave the day after."

"Sounds good to me," Tom said with a shrug. "Where have you been for the last three hours? Everyone was looking for you and Lucius for at least two and a half hours and none of us could find you."

Harry shrugged. "I was meditating. I apologise for keeping you all waiting. I can't keep time when I meditate."

"That was _meditating_?" Lucius shrieked.

Harry chuckled. "Yes, that was one of my forms of mediation." He threw a sideways smirk at the blonde man. "I do believe that this is for you." He reached into the side pocket of the pants he was wearing and pulled out a scroll. "I found it in the room when I finished."

Harry led Hermione, Luna, Neville, Pansy and Blaise into the sitting area while Narcissa, Tom, Severus and Draco crowded around Lucius and looked at the scroll.

"What?" Lucius screeched as the others started laughing at how it was addressed on the outside.

_Dear Pervert_

"I believe that you are the next reader Severus," Harry called out before anything else could happen.

"You would be correct," Severus said, still chuckling softly at his friend.

When everyone had seated themselves, Severus opened the book and cleared his throat.

_Through the Trapdoor_

Narcissa groaned and put her face in her hands. "Tell me you didn't. Please, just tell me that you didn't do what the title says."

"Okay," Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused. "We didn't.

"For some reason that is not helping," Narcissa stated dryly.

_In years to come, Harry would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment._

Harry blushed as everyone in the room laughed at his thoughts.

"I may have been insane," Tom said through his laughter, "but I wasn't that insane."

_Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door._

_It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers._

Harry muttered something under his breath that no one caught, but they could tell what it roughly was by the look on his face.

_They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-cheating spell._

"I don't know why they give us those things," Neville said with a roll of his eyes his head in Luna's lap. "We are all put far enough away from everyone else so we can't see what they are writing."

"Not to mention that they put all the grades together in the same room for the same tests and they have a line of first years, then beside them a line of second years and so on and so forth. The only year levels they don't have in them are the fifth and seventh year students since they have OWLs and NEWTs," Luna said as she ran a hand through Neville's hair.

_They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk._

_Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox - points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers._

"I never understood why we had to do those things. It's not as though we will ever need to do them again," Blaise muttered in annoyance.

Hermione blinked at him. "Don't you know? Each practical tests you on the most difficult things you learnt in that topic over the whole year. It is impossible to get full marks for the practical if you do not have a decent grasp on ALL the things that were taught over the year."

"It figures that it would be you who discovered that, Miss Granger," Severus stated dryly.

"I wasn't," Hermione stated factually. "It was Neville who pointed it out to me since he could do everything except for one of the easier parts and he failed it, but once he managed to get the one small part that he couldn't get mastered, he passed with flying colours."

_Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion._

"Oh the Irony," Tom laughed.

_Harry did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into the forest._

Tom frowned thoughtfully at Harry.

_Neville thought Harry had a bad case of exam nerves because Harry couldn't sleep, but the truth was that Harry kept being woken by his old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it._

Everyone shuddered at the thought of that appearing in their dreams, suddenly thankful that they were not Harry Potter.

_Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Harry had seen in the forest or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Ron and Hermione didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Harry._

"You weren't worried about the Stone Harry," Hermione stated dryly.

"You were obsessed," Neville finished, stressing 'obsessed'.

_The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to._

"How much last minute revision did you get done in the end?" Lucius asked.

Harry gave a sheepish grin and flushed slightly, "None."

"And you still managed to come out top in our year in DADA?" Pansy asked incredulously.

"I'm a hands on kind of person," Harry shrugged. "I learn things through watching and doing, not from a book. I know in my head that if I add may fly larvae to a pepper up potion, all I will get is a fuzzy pink growth on the bottom of the cauldron, but it took me doing it to understand that it would happen because I could see it happen. I could feel it, taste it smell it – and by taste, I mean the aftertaste of breathing near it, not actually dipping in a spoon and shoving it in your mouth … but then again, that works too ..." Harry looked at the book with eyes narrowed in contemplation.

_Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Harry couldn't help cheering with the rest._

Neville and Hermione started to laugh while Harry turned a brilliant red.

"Oh shut up," he mock snarled at them, only making them laugh even harder.

"What happened?" Blaise asked with a smirk as his eyes flicked between the three of them.

"When we had left the room, Harry asked what we were cheering about," Hermione managed to gasp through her laughter. Harry blushed even deeper and everyone in the room laughed at the boy who was trying desperately to hide.

_'That was far easier than I thought it would be,' said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. 'I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager.'_

Everyone who didn't know Hermione all that well turned at looked at her incredulously.

"What?" she asked, blinking innocently.

"You do realise that neither of those topics are covered until at least second year, don't you?"

Draco asked.

"So?" Hermione asked, not seeing where the blonde was going with it.

"Never mind," He looked away, shaking his head in amazement.

_Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree._

_The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows._

Harry snorted. "Yes … that's what they were doing … Tickling it." Harry refused to look at anyone in the room; instead, he tilted his chair back and looked up at the ceiling, whistling innocently

_'No more studying,' Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. 'You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet.'_

"I thought that Harry was the pessimistic one of the group," Tom said smoothly.

"He is," Luna said with a half-smile that creeped everyone out, "unless it comes to protecting someone or school work."

"That's because when I'm protecting someone, it generally means that I need to think quickly and who the hell can concentrate of schoolwork when there are more important things in life?"

_Harry was rubbing his forehead._

_'I wish I knew what this means!' he burst out angrily. 'My scar keeps hurting - it's happened before, but never as often as this.'_

_'Go to Madam Pomfrey,' Hermione suggested._

_'I'm not ill,' said Harry. 'I think it's a warning… it means danger's coming…'_

"And as per usual, Harry was correct," Hermione sighed, shaking her head in disgust at her past actions.

"No need to sound so annoyed at it Hun," Harry said with a cheeky smile, making her chuckle and shake her head.

_Ron couldn't get worked up, it was too hot. 'Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once; he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down.'_

_Harry nodded, but he couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something he'd forgotten to do, something important._

Tom and Severus looked at Harry contemplatently for several long minutes before shaking themselves out of it so the reading could continue.

_When he tried to explain this, Hermione said, 'That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one.'_

Harry rolled his eyes when he was positive that Hermione wasn't looking at him.

_Harry was quite sure the unsettled feeling didn't have anything to do with work, though. He watched an owl flutter toward the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. Hagrid was the only one who ever sent him letters. Hagrid would never betray Dumbledore. Hagrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy… never… but…_

_Harry suddenly jumped to his feet._

_'Where're you going?' said Ron sleepily._

_'I've just thought of something,' said Harry. He had turned white. 'We've got to go and see Hagrid, now.'_

Tom, Severus and Lucius turned and gaped at Harry who fidgeted nervously, patting his fringe down over his forehead.

_'Why?' panted Hermione, hurrying to keep up._

_'Don't you think it's a bit odd,' said Harry, scrambling up the grassy slope, 'that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?'_

"Well I'll be, he figured it out …" Severus whispered, blinking at Harry in a way that reminded everyone of the hero-worshipers in the rest of the school.

"Can someone slap him until he comes to his senses?" Harry asked, terror lacing his voice and face.

_'What are you talking about?' said Ron, but Harry, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer._

"And leaving me and Ron to eat his dust … almost literally as well as figuratively," Hermione sighed with resignation.

_Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up and he was shelling peas into a large bowl._

"It looks so comical because of the size difference between the peas and his hands," Luna giggled softly.

_'Hullo,' he said, smiling. 'Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?'_

"At least he is a good host," Draco and Narcissa chorused.

"Oh isn't that so cute?" Harry squealed, jumping up from his seat and running to Draco to pinch his cheeks gently. "He is such an upstanding and adorable young man when there's no pinecone up his arse."

Hermione, Severus and Pansy, who were taking this time to sip at whatever drink they had in their hands, chocked as they inhaled in shock instead of swallowing. Draco turned bright red from embarrassment as the others in the room turned red from their own laughter.

_'Yes, please,' said Ron, but Harry cut him off_

_._

_'No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?'_

_'Dunno,' said Hagrid casually, 'he wouldn' take his cloak off.'_

_He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows._

_'It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head - that's one of the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up.'_

_Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas. 'What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?'_

"All this from just from musing about who did and didn't send him letters," Tom lamented.

_'Mighta come up,' said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. 'Yeah… he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here… He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after… so I told him… an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon… an' then… I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks…_

_Let's see… yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted… but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home… So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…'_

_'And did he - did he seem interested in Fluffy?' Harry asked, trying to keep his voice calm._

"Tried?" Hermione snorted in disbelief, looking at the book as though it had offended her in some way. "He tried to keep calm? All that came across was vague interest!"

_'Well - yeah - how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep -'_

"And that there is the reason you never trust Hagrid with a secret without first obtaining an oath," Harry stated grimly.

"Thirty five Galleons, twelve sickles and eight knuts," Tom stated as though he were in a dream. "That was how much money I had to spend to get him to even hint at the fact he had a Cerberus when I already knew he had it and you got the answer out of him just by talking to him."

Harry nodded, tilting his head to the side as he inspected Tom, wondering if he had broken the man.

_Hagrid suddenly looked horrified. 'I shouldn'ta told yeh that!' he blurted out. 'Forget I said it! Hey - where're yeh goin'?'_

_Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds._

_'We've got to go to Dumbledore,'_

Severus stopped reading and out rightly gaped at Harry who scowled at him

"Yes, as unbelievable as it is, I do know when to take my information to someone in charge. It isn't my fault that no one in that position believes me when I do go to them."

Severus flushed slightly and quickly turned back to the book.

_Said Harry._

_'Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak - it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?'_

_They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him._

"Not even the twins?" Blaise asked incredulously.

"Not even the twins," Harry, Hermione and Neville chorused.

"Minerva always found it prudent to take on their punishment into her own hands – not that it ever did any good," Severus cleared up for his students.

_'We'll just have to -' Harry began, but a voice suddenly rang across the hall. _

_'What are you three doing inside?' It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books._

Hermione glared at the book, willing it to burst into flames. It had been what had come up in the following conversation that really shook her from her hero-worship of everyone in a position of authority.

_'We want to see Professor Dumbledore,' said Hermione, rather bravely, Harry and Ron thought._

_'See Professor Dumbledore?' Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. 'Why?'_

"Yet another example of how the wizarding world is incompetent and backwards. In muggle schools – at least the one I attended – the students could speak to the Headmaster if something troubled them. If you asked to see the Headmaster or Head mistress, no one asked why, they would just go and see if they had the time to see that student and if they didn't, then it would fall on the deputy headmaster of the office staff," Hermione ranted.

"It was the same at the school I went too," Harry nodded. "Mr Anderson – our Headmaster – went as far as to visit each class once a week to talk to the students so we knew who to go to if we had any problems. It was because of him that I managed to get food at lunch and I managed to obtain real scores for the exams I took. He wasn't supposed to do what he did, but he felt it was the only thing that he could have done to make my life easier after the twenty fourth complaint he had filed with children's services was ignored."

_Harry swallowed - now what?_

_'It's sort of secret,' he said, but he wished at once he hadn't, because Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared._

_'Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago,' she said coldly._

"No wonder you have no faith in the Professors," Severus grimaced. "Between me being a nightmare and your head of house treating you like that … I wouldn't trust anyone if it had been me."

_'He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once.'_

_'He's gone?' said Harry frantically. 'Now?'_

_'Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter; he has many demands on his time -'_

"Then he shouldn't be in charge of a school full of children then," Neville snarled viciously. "Children need to have someone they trust looking after them at all times, particularly in a Boarding School environment. If he has other responsibilities that call his attention away from making sure that the school is as safe as he can make it, then he shouldn't be in the school to begin with!"

"Hear, hear!" Harry, Hermione and Luna cheered, raising their porcelain cups of tea in a toast.

_'But this is important.'_

_'Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?'_

"Gilderoy Lockhart has things to say that are more important than the Ministry," Luna snarled, only to receive a wrist being shoved into her mouth, courtesy of Harry.

Hermione, Neville, Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Severus nodded their agreement, even though they each had a grimace on their faces at the thought of the … thing … that had strutted into their lives only a few short years ago.

_'Look,' said Harry, throwing caution to the winds, 'Professor - it's about the Philosopher's Stone -'_

"That will get her attention," Lucius chuckled, finally looking in the general direction of the teen.

_Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up._

_'How do you know -?' she spluttered._

_'Professor, I think - I know - that Sn- that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore.'_

_She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion._

Narcissa narrowed her eyes at the book in her friend's hands, imagining Minerva McGonagall in its place. Severus whimpered slightly before trying to ignore the glare and continue reading. If his voice was tighter and a little higher pitched than normal, no one said anything.

_'Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow,' she said finally. 'I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected.'_

"Yeah, so well protected that three eleven year olds managed to get through the entire thing without the need of adult assistance – hell, we didn't even need look further than our first year text books for the answers!" Harry muttered, still obviously pissed off at the woman.

_'But Professor -'_

_'Potter, I know what I'm talking about,' she said shortly._

"I do believe that this book disagrees with her, don't you?" Blaise asked innocently, managing to break through the tense atmosphere that was starting to surround Harry.

_She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. 'I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine.'_

"How did you managed to forgive her after what she did that year?" Narcissa asked.

"Harry is far too forgiving," Neville stated eyes hard.

Harry glared Neville into submission before turning to Narcissa with an all too innocent expression on his face. "I believed that she had suffered enough, so when she came to me begging for forgiveness, I granted it too her.

"What did you do?" Severus asked, shrewdly.

"ME?" Harry asked in a sugar-couldn't-melt-on-my-tongue voice. "I did nothing. I maintain that Peeves' and Myrtle's temporary bond to her and each other was something that she did to herself."

Everyone in the room gaped in shock, not even Harry's family knew what he had done to their Head of House after that year.

_But they didn't._

_'It's tonight,' said Harry, once he was sure Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. 'Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note; I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up.'_

Severus glared at the book in distaste. "After all of that, and I'm still the main suspect."

"Actually Sir," Neville stated far too cheerfully for Severus' taste, "technically, you were the only suspect."

Severus growled at the teen, only to get a grin in return.

_'But what can we -'_

_Hermione gasped. Harry and Ron wheeled round._

_Snape was standing there._

_'Good afternoon,' he said smoothly._

"Oh for … Not again Severus," Narcissa snapped.

_They stared at him._

_'You shouldn't be inside on a day like this,' he said, with an odd, twisted smile._

_'We were -' Harry began, without any idea what he was going to say._

_'You want to be more careful,' said Snape. 'Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?'_

_Harry flushed. They turned to go outside, but Snape called them back._

_'Be warned, Potter - any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you.'_

Narcissa picked up the nearest mug to her and threw it at Severus' head, only to blink in surprise when it flew to Harry instead, who caught it.

"Here," Harry handed her a bag of Bertie Botts Beans, "I'd rather you throw those at him. I'm rather attached to these mugs." With a smile, he poured hot tea into the plain white mug and watched with a grin as a picture of Dumbledore being kicked in the groin played and replayed over and over again.

_'He strode off in the direction of the staffroom._

_Out on the stone steps, Harry turned to the others._

_'Right, here's what we've got to do,' he whispered urgently. 'One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape - wait outside the staff room and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you'd better do that.'_

_'Why me?'_

Tom and Lucius looked between the two of them with wide eyes as Severus rubbed his temples with one hand while the other held his place in the book. "It just happened to have been the only one of the three of you that no one would question going to see a Professor after the exams had been done. Once more we were all outsmarted by an eleven year old."

"Thank you," Harry smiled smugly.

_'It's obvious,' said Ron. 'You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know.' He put on a high voice, 'Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried; I think I got question fourteen b wrong…'_

_'Oh, shut up,' said Hermione, but she agreed to go and watch out for Snape._

_'And we'd better stay outside the third-floor corridor,' Harry told Ron. 'Come on.'_

Everyone in the room snorted in amusement.

_But that part of the plan didn't work. No sooner had they reached the door separating Fluffy from the rest of the school than Professor McGonagall turned up again and this time, she lost her temper._

_'I suppose you think you're harder to get past than a pack of enchantments!' she stormed._

"Actually yes – because we would make one Hell of a racket and people would run to see what was going on, therefore forcing the attention of the Professors, who would have been able to get the bastard before he did too much damage," Harry rattled without once taking a breath.

"That would have actually worked," Tom said, blinking in shock. "The hallways were too exposed to do anything too bad to anyone, not to mention the portraits can be used as testimony in trials."

_'Enough of this nonsense! If I hear you've come anywhere near here again, I'll take another fifty points from Gryffindor! 'Yes, Weasley, from my own house!'_

Harry muttered darkly under his breath.

_Harry and Ron went back to the common room, Harry had just said, 'At least Hermione's on Snape's tail,' when the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Hermione came in._

"Famous last words!" Harry and Hermione chorused before locking eyes and laughing.

_'I'm sorry, Harry!' she wailed. 'Snape came out and asked me what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Flitwick, and Snape went to get him, and I've only just got away; I don't know where Snape went.'_

_'Well, that's it then, isn't it?' Harry said._

_The other two stared at him. He was pale and his eyes were glittering._

"If you ever see that look on his face and you were the one to cause it … RUN," Hermione, Luna and Neville stated, completely serious.

_'I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first.'_

_'You're mad!' said Ron._

"Oh I'm not mad Ronnikins," Harry hissed, eyes flashing. "I'm beyond mad – I am completely and utterly pissed right off at you at this point in time."

_'You can't!' said Hermione. 'After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!'_

"And you are still going on about being expelled," Pansy snorted in amusement, making Hermione flush slightly.

_'SO WHAT' Harry shouted. 'Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts!_

_Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side!_

_I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?'_

The silence that filled the room at the end of that speech was absolute. Severus visibly struggled to convince himself into continuing the chapter.

_He glared at them._

_'You're right Harry,' said Hermione in a small voice._

"But not as small as he made me feel," Hermione said in the same voice she had used all those years ago.

_'I'll use the invisibility cloak,' said Harry. 'It's just lucky I got it back.'_

_'But will it cover all three of us?' said Ron._

_'All - all three of us?'_

"That really threw me for a loop," Harry said with a bemused smile on his face, as though the thought still was a foreign concept to him.

"You inspire loyalty, Harry. It's best to just get used to it," Luna stated, patting him on the head absentmindedly.

_'Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?'_

_'Of course not,' said Hermione briskly. 'How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us?I'd better go and look through my books, there might be something useful…'_

_'But if we get caught, you two will be expelled, too.'_

_'Not if I can help it,' said Hermione grimly. 'Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that.'_

"You got a hundred and twelve percent on your end of year Charms exam in first year?" Blaise exclaimed. I was the top student in Slytherin for that exam and I only got eighty one percent!"

"That can't be right," Harry said with a frown.

"What can't be?" Narcissa asked when it was evident that no one else would.

"The list for top students of our year in Charms this year goes Hermione, Padma, Susan Bones, Blaise, Neville then me. In first year, it was Hermione, Blaise, me, Padma, Hannah Abbott then Susan. In first year, I obtained a test score of a hundred and four percent."

"That is easy to explain," Severus said with a relieved sigh. "The overall marks are not only for the test alone but the full year together so you could have done better tan Blaise on the exam, but he did better in the assignments throughout the year and the scores added together would have pushed him ahead of you."

"That makes sense," Harry said.

"Am I the only one that is freaked out over the fact that not only did Harry know the order of the top six students in Charms for this year off the top of his head, but that he did the same for the exact same subject but for four years previous?" Pansy asked in a drawling voice, much like the one Draco normally used.

"It doesn't even register with us anymore," Neville said to the girl with a rueful half grin. "It's not limited to Charms either – he's memorised all of the leader lists from top score to who came in last for each of the subjects from first year."

_After dinner the three of them sat nervously apart in the common room. Nobody bothered them; none of the Gryffindors had anything to say to Harry any more, after all. This was the first night he hadn't been upset by it._

_Hermione was skimming through all her notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments they were about to try to break._

_Harry and Ron didn't talk much. Both of them were thinking about what they were about to do. Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed._

_'Better get the cloak,' Ron muttered, as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and yawning. Harry ran upstairs to their dark dormitory. He pulled out the cloak and then his eyes fell on the flute Hagrid had given him for Christmas. He pocketed it to use on Fluffy - he didn't feel much like singing._

"Not that you can sing in the first place," Neville teased the slightly younger teen.

"Why do you think I didn't feel like doing it?" Harry replied with a large, easy grin. "I wanted the damn thing to go to sleep, not to get perforated ear drums."

_He ran back down to the common room._

_'We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all three of us - if Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own -'_

_'What are you doing?' said a voice from the corner of the room._

"HI NEV!" Harry yelled, waving spastically at the other boy. Neville just waved once then turned his head and started a conversation with Pansy, who was seated next to him. Harry pouted, making Narcissa coo.

_Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom._

"Maybe you should have named him 'William Wallace' instead of 'Trevor'," Hermione joked.

_'Nothing, Neville, nothing,' said Harry, hurriedly putting the cloak behind his back._

_Neville stared at their guilty faces. 'You're going out again,' he said._

_'No, no, no,' said Hermione. 'No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?'_

_Harry looked at the grandfather clock by the door. They couldn't afford to waste any more time, Snape might even now be playing Fluffy to sleep._

_'You can't go out,' said Neville, 'you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble.'_

_'You don't understand,' said Harry, 'this is important.'_

_But Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desperate. 'I won't let you do it,' he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. 'I'll - I'll fight you!'_

_'Neville,' Ron exploded, 'get away from that hole and don't be an idiot -'_

_'Don't you call me an idiot!' said Neville. 'I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!'_

_'Yes, but not to us,' said Ron in exasperation. 'Neville, you don't know what you're doing.'_

_He took a step forward and Neville dropped Trevor the toad, who leapt out of sight._

_'Go on then, try and hit me!' said Neville, raising his fists. 'I'm ready!'_

Harry looked at Neville with a strange gleam in his eye and a wicked grin on his face.

Neville looked terrified. "No! Don't you dare!"

Hermione, Luna and Harry exchanged shark-like grins. "I AM LION!" they shouted proudly, "HEAR ME ROAR!" The three of them exchanged grins once more, ignoring Neville who now had his head buried in his folded arms.

"Mreow?" all three of them tilted their heads to the left at exactly the same time.

Neville glared at them, red-faced with embarrassment. "You are never going to let me live that down are you?" he finally said with a sigh of resignation.

"You were the one stupid enough to accept the twin's drinking challenge," Hermione reminded him.

"So really, it is your own fault," Luna said with a smile.

Neville lowered his head back onto his arms and let loose a loud groan.

"Do we want to know?" Lucius asked delicately.

"The twin's issued a challenge a few weeks before they left the school." Harry said with a grin. "They said that they could drink anyone under the table and if they could find someone who could out drink them, then that person would get a reward of their choosing from each twin. No one in Gryffindor would take them up on the bet, suspecting that something would happen."

"Neville here," Hermione continued, "got sick of the pestering since they would bother him while he was working on his stuff for his Healer's certificate, so he accepted with the stipulation that it was right there and then in front of everyone in the common room. Naturally, the twins agreed and five minutes later, everything was set up."

"It turned out that the twins were planning something after all," Neville sighed, giving into the inevitable. "They were having single shots in two shots of water while I was getting triple shots every time I drank – and we weren't drinking butter beer."

"There was fire whisky, vodka, rum, bourbon – you name it, the twins had it," Harry continued. "It also seemed that they had forgotten about the fact that Neville and Luna are mates and that until recently he had been feeding her. Part of the feeding process for unbound mates that are feeding is for the non-vampire partner to drink a fair amount of alcohol since alcohol dullens body processes– including those of mating. This also meant that Neville can hold his alcohol better than anyone in the tower."

"Fred and George ended up absolutely shattered after eight drinks, but Neville was ignoring them and was actually taking his drinks around doing his research for his assignment. It wasn't until both Fred and George collapsed and spilt their drinks over him that he noticed anything."

"You have to understand just how much Neville had to drink for this next bit," Harry cut back in. "Remember, the twins had eight drinks – that is eight shots of thirty millilitres each. That is 240 mL of alcohol. Neville was having the equivalent of three shots for ever one of theirs, meaning that IF he had been keeping pace with them, he would have been up to 720mL – easily smashing them both out of the water combined."

"But you said if he had been keeping pace with them," Draco stated, catching onto the bait.

Neville returned to his bright red self. "I'm not a slow drinker when it comes to alcohol," he admitted. "Since Luna is not yet at an age where her hunger comes on slowly but hits her all at once, she needs to feed almost immediately when the hunger hits or she could slip into bloodlust, so I've gotten myself used to drinking a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time. I think after I had been drinking for around three hours, we had half a bottle of alcohol left."

Everyone blinked in shock.

"Go on," Lucius softly urged.

"Well," Hermione giggled as did Luna, "As soon as Neville saw the twin laying on the ground unable to move at all, Neville set about doing what the winner had to do to claim the prize of champion, which was to yell out 'I am lion, hear me roar' but as he finished yelling it Crookshanks, my cat, jumped onto his lap and meowed."

"H … H … H …H," Harry struggled to talk through his laughter at the memory.

"It was at that moment that the full effect of the alcohol hit me since it was the first time I was drinking without feeding Luna, since I had fed her earlier that day. Me in my alcohol dazed mind thought that it would be a good idea to copy Crookshanks in tilting my head to the side and meowing right back at him," Neville ground out over the laughter that was coming from his three friends.

"It was just so adorably cute!" Harry managed to say through his laughter. I'll put it into a pensieve over the holidays for you to see.

"No you will not!" Neville stated.

Severus quickly picked up the book and started to read, struggling not to laugh himself at the poor boy's misfortune.

_Harry turned to Hermione. 'Do something,' he said desperately._

_Hermione stepped forward. 'Neville,' she said, 'I'm really, really sorry about this.' She raised her wand. 'Petrificus Totalus!' she cried, pointing it at Neville._

_Neville's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board._

_Hermione ran to turn him over. Neville's jaws were jammed together so he couldn't speak. Only his eyes were moving, looking at them in horror._

_'What've you done to him?' Harry whispered._

_'It's the full Body-Bind,' said Hermione miserably. 'Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry.'_

Neville sighed and stood up, reaching out a hand to stop himself from staggering from standing up too quickly. Once he could stand un-aided, he made his way to Hermione, who looked absolutely miserable.

"Don't look so down Hunny. You apologised before, during and after it happened. I'm very happy that you did it to be honest. I'd rather not have Quirrelmort in charge of my schooling thank you. Can you imagine how badly my stutter would have progressed instead of going?"

Hermione giggled wetly at the thought of it.

_'We had to, Neville, no time to explain,' said Harry._

_'You'll understand later, Neville,' said Ron as they stepped over him and pulled on the invisibility cloak._

_But leaving Neville lying motionless on the floor didn't feel like a very good omen. In their nervous state, every statue's shadow looked like Filch, every distant breath of wind sounded like Peeves swooping down on them. At the foot of the first set of stairs, they spotted Mrs. Norris skulking near the top._

_'Oh, let's kick her, just this once,' Ron whispered in Harry's ear, but Harry shook his head._

"The best thing is that she heard him. Like Crookshanks, she is a magical cat who can understand human tongue, so now she attacks him every time she sees him. It's awesome to watch," Harry smirked.

_As they climbed carefully around her, Mrs. Norris turned her lamplike eyes on them, but didn't do anything._

_They didn't meet anyone else until they reached the staircase up to the third floor. Peeves was bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet so that people would trip._

_'Who's there?' he said suddenly as they climbed toward him. He narrowed his wicked black eyes. 'Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?' He rose up in the air and floated there, squinting at them. 'Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen.'_

_Harry had a sudden idea. 'Peeves,' he said, in a hoarse whisper, 'the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible.'_

"You … What … How …" Lucius sputtered inelegantly.

"How unique," Narcissa whispered, putting a hand on Lucius' arm. "Let's see if it works."

_Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself in time and hovered about a foot off the stairs._

_'So sorry, your bloodiness, Mr. Baron, Sir,' he said greasily. 'My mistake, my mistake - I didn't see you - of course I didn't, you're invisible - forgive old Peevsie his little joke, sir.'_

_'I have business here, Peeves,' croaked Harry. 'Stay away from this place tonight.'_

_'I will, sir, I most certainly will,' said Peeves, rising up in the air again. 'Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you.'_

_And he scooted off._

"Well I'll be," Tom said, shocked to the core. "It worked. He actually believed it."

"He found out it was Harry the following year when the majority of the school turned on him again and Peeves 'forgot' what little respect he had for Harry in the first place," Luna told them with a dreamy smile.

_'Brilliant, Harry!' whispered Ron._

_A few seconds later, they were there, outside the third-floor corridor - and the door was already ajar._

_'Well, there you are,' Harry said quietly, 'Snape's already got past Fluffy.'_

_Seeing the open door somehow seemed to impress upon all three of them what was facing them. Underneath the cloak, Harry turned to the other two._

_'If you want to go back, I won't blame you,' he said. 'You can take the cloak, I won't need it now.'_

_'Don't be stupid,' said Ron._

_'We're coming,' said Hermione._

_Harry pushed the door open._

_As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their ears. All three of the dog's noses sniffed madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them._

_'What's that at its feet?' Hermione whispered._

_'Looks like a harp,' said Ron. 'Snape must have left it there.'_

"That was when I started to have doubts as to who was behind it," Harry sighed. "Even so, I ignored the doubt."

"Me too," Hermione nodded. "The Professor doesn't seem to be the type to play the harp. Piano and violin though, it would be another matter entirely."

_'It must wake up the moment you stop playing,' said Harry. 'Well, here goes…'_

_He put Hagrid's flute to his lips and blew. It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Harry hardly drew breath. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased - it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep._

_'Keep playing,' Ron warned Harry as they slipped out of the cloak and crept toward the trapdoor. They could feel the dog's hot, smelly breath as they approached the giant heads. 'I think we'll be able to pull the door open,' said Ron, peering over the dog's back. 'Want to go first, Hermione?'_

"Such a Gentleman," Draco, Blaise and Pansy sneered.

_'No, I don't!'_

_'All right.' Ron gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the dog's legs. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open._

_'What can you see?' Hermione said anxiously._

_'Nothing - just black - there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop.'_

Narcissa made a soft whimpering in the back of her throat and grabbed hold of Lucius' arm.

_Harry, who was still playing the flute, waved at Ron to get his attention and pointed at himself._

_'You want to go first? Are you sure?'_

"This is after he had already asked Hermione if she would like to go first," Draco sneered, even less impressed then he was at the beginning of the book.

_said Ron. 'I don't know how deep this thing goes. Give the flute to Hermione so she can keep him asleep.'_

_Harry handed the flute over. In the few seconds' silence, the dog growled and twitched, but the moment Hermione began to play, it fell back into its deep sleep._

_Harry climbed over it and looked down through the trapdoor. There was no sign of the bottom._

_He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked up at Ron and said, 'If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?'_

"You shouldn't have had to do that!" Narcissa shouted, unable to keep silent for any longer. "The room should have been locked with more than a simple locking charm that is taught in first year … no, forget that, that thing shouldn't even be in a school! And when you told a teacher, no matter which teacher it was, they should have done everything in their power to assure you that they will do everything in their power to make sure that nothing happened to it, not just pat you on the head and send you off to play."

_'Right,' said Ron._

_'See you in a minute, I hope…'_

_And Harry let go. Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and -_

_FLUMP._

_With a funny, muffled sort of thump he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant._

Hermione put her head into her hands with a groan. "I forgot about this," she muttered so only Neville, Luna and Harry heard. Harry starting laughing manically.

_'It's okay!' he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp,_

Blaise whistled softly. "That is a fair drop."

_which was the open trapdoor, 'it's a soft landing, you can jump!'_

_Ron followed right away. He landed, sprawled next to Harry._

_'What's this stuff?' were his first words._

_'Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on, Hermione!'_

_The distant music stopped. There was a loud bark from the dog, but Hermione had already jumped. She landed on Harry's other side._

_'We must be miles under the school,' she said._

_'Lucky this plant thing's here, really,' said Ron._

_'Lucky!' shrieked Hermione. 'Look at you both!'_

Harry started to cackle harder, making Hermione struggle to her feet and run at him. Harry leapt up and ran around the room, cackling madly as Hermione chased him around the room.

"Just continue reading Sir," Neville sighed. "There is little we can do when they get like this."

"Isn't that going to harm her or the baby?" Pansy asked as she watched Hermione run around after Harry.

"No, it is actually good for her. It is really the only exercise that she gets that isn't from walking around the school. Watch them closely – see how Harry stays only just out of Hermione's range? He's sticking close to her, just in case. Remember what Hermione keeps saying – Harry is really fast when he wants to be."

Pansy nodded her head, promising to watch the body language of the four of them rather than just listen to their words.

_She leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall. She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around her ankles. As for Harry and Ron, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing._

"Oh dear," Narcissa paled more.

_Hermione had managed to free herself before the plant got a firm grip on her. Now she watched in horror as the two boys fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them._

_'Stop moving!' Hermione ordered them. 'I know what this is - it's Devil's Snare!'_

"Something else that is taught in first year," Lucius said with a scowl.

_'Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help,' snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck._

_'Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!' said Hermione._

_'Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!' Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest._

Narcissa jumped up and grabbed harry as he ran passed her, pulling him onto her lap and starting to pat his head, muttering under her breath. Harry yelped in surprise, much to everyone's entertainment, before he calmed down.

_'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare… what did Professor Sprout say? - it likes the dark and the damp.'_

_'So light a fire!' Harry choked._

_'Yes - of course - but there's no wood!'_

"NO WOOD? THERE'S NO WOOD? ARE YOU THE PERSON WHO LIT PROFESSOR SNAPE ON FIRIE OR NOT!" Pansy yelled at Hermione.

"I forgot!" Hermione wailed, bursting into tears. "My job is to research, learn and teach the others. Harry is the one good in life and death instances.

Pansy paled as soon as the tears started and she did her best to calm the crying girl down.

_Hermione cried, wringing her hands._

_'HAVE YOU GONE MAD?' Ron bellowed. 'ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?'_

_'Oh, right!' said Hermione, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at the plant._

_In a matter of seconds, the two boys felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free._

_'Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione,' said Harry as he joined her by the wall, wiping sweat off his face._

"Am I the only one who is sensing a set-up?" Draco asked.

"I do remember some niggling felling at the back of my mind about it being too easy, but I ignored it for my insanity," Tom said with wide eyes.

_'Yeah,' said Ron, 'and lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis - there's no wood, honestly.'_

_'This way,' said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward._

_All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward, and Harry was reminded of Gringotts. With an unpleasant jolt of the heart, he remembered the dragons said to be guarding vaults in the wizards' bank. If they met a dragon, a fully-grown dragon - Norbert had been bad enough…_

"I absolutely loathe dragons," Hermione shuddered as she finally bought her tears under control.

_'Can you hear something?' Ron whispered._

_Harry listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead._

_'Do you think it's a ghost?'_

_'I don't know… sounds like wings to me.'_

"You will have extraordinary senses when you are turned," Luna stated with pride.

"If he can be turned," Severus muttered.

Luna turned and glared at him, making him fidget slightly.

_'There's light ahead - I can see something moving.'_

_They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room._

_On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door._

_'Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?' said Ron._

_'Probably,' said Harry. 'They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once… well, there's no other choice… I'll run.'_

Hermione started ranting under her breath with only a few words making it to the ears of those around her.

_He took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms, and sprinted across the room. He expected to feel sharp beaks and claws tearing at him any second, but nothing happened._

_He reached the door untouched. He pulled the handle, but it was locked._

_The other two followed him. They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hermione tried her Alohomora charm._

_'Now what?' said Ron._

_'These birds… they can't be here just for decoration,' said Hermione._

_They watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering -glittering?_

_'They're not birds!' Harry said suddenly. 'They're keys! Winged keys - look carefully. So that must mean…' he looked around the chamber while the other two squinted up at the flock of keys. '… yes - look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!'_

_'But there are hundreds of them!'_

_Ron examined the lock on the door. 'We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one- probably silver, like the handle.'_

Harry narrowed his eyes thoughtfully before they went the size of dinner plate and he started swearing.

"Language young man," Narcissa said as she gave a gentle smack to his arm

"What was that all about, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"He knew! That bloody buggering half-wit knew what was in there! How else could he know which key was needed? No one in his family uses keys!"

Hermione scowled, not finding any enjoyment in Narcissa smacking Harry on the arm again.

_They each seized a broomstick and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys._

_They grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one._

_Not for nothing, though, was Harry the youngest Seeker in a century. He had a knack for spotting things other people didn't. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, he noticed a large silver key that had a bent wing, as if it had already been caught and stuffed roughly into the keyhole._

_'That one!' he called to the others. 'That big one - there - no, there - with bright blue wings - the feathers are all crumpled on one side.'_

_Ron went speeding in the direction that Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and nearly fell off his broom._

Blaise, Draco and Pansy all laughed at the image.

_'We've got to close in on it!' Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing. 'Ron, you come at it from above - Hermione, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!'_

"He's a natural born leader," Lucius whispered, eyes wide. "An even better one than you My Lord. You were more charismatic than he is, but he seems to get instant obedience from those around him.

"I agree with you," Tom said. "I'd hate to see what would have occurred if this hadn't have occurred.

"I think we are going to find out My Lord. There are seven books remember?" Severus said.

_Ron dived, Hermione rocketed upward, the key dodged them both, and Harry streaked after it; it sped toward the wall, Harry leaned forward and with a nasty, crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand. Ron and Hermione's cheers echoed around the high chamber._

_They landed quickly, and Harry ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned - it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice._

_'Ready?' Harry asked the other two, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open._

_The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight._

Tom perked up so that he was sitting up straight. "Albus dressed in robes with dull colours?"

Harry and Luna laughed.

_They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Harry, Ron and Hermione shivered slightly - the towering white chessmen had no faces._

_'Now what do we do?' Harry whispered._

_'It's obvious, isn't it?' said Ron. 'We've got to play our way across the room.'_

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville all scowled.

_Behind the white pieces they could see another door._

_'How?' said Hermione nervously._

_'I think,' said Ron, 'we're going to have to be chessmen.'_

_He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Ron._

_'Do we - er - have to join you to get across?' The black knight nodded. Ron turned to the other two._

_'This needs thinking about…' he said. 'I suppose we've got to take the place of three of the black pieces…'_

_Harry and Hermione stayed quiet, watching Ron think. Finally he said, 'Now, don't be offended or anything, but neither of you are that good at chess -'_

_'We're not offended,' said Harry quickly._

_'Just tell us what to do.'_

_'Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you go there instead of that castle.'_

_'What about you?'_

_'I'm going to be a knight,' said Ron._

_The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words a knight, a bishop, and a castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving three empty squares that Harry, Ron, and Hermione took._

_'White always plays first in chess,' said Ron, peering across the board. 'Yes… look…'_

_A white pawn had moved forward two squares._

_Ron started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Harry's knees were trembling. What if they lost?_

_'Harry - move diagonally four squares to the right.'_

_Their first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown._

_'Had to let that happen,' said Ron, looking shaken. 'Leaves you free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on.'_

"Probably worried about himself as per usual," Hermione snarled.

_Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice, Ron only just noticed in time that Harry and Hermione were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones._

_'We're nearly there,' he muttered suddenly. 'Let me think - let me think…'_

_The white queen turned her blank face toward him._

_'Yes…' said Ron softly, 'It's the only way… I've got to be taken.'_

Harry turned an alarming shade of green without anyone noticing.

"I'm surprised he had the guts to go through with it," Neville spat.

_'NO!' Harry and Hermione shouted._

_'That's chess!' snapped Ron. 'You've got to make some sacrifices! I make my move and she'll take me - that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!'_

_'But -'_

_'Do you want to stop Snape or not?'_

_'Ron -'_

_'Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!'_

_There was no alternative._

_'Ready?' Ron called, his face pale but determined. 'Here I go - now, don't hang around once you've won.'_

_He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor- Hermione screamed but stayed on her square - the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out._

_Shaking, Harry moved three spaces to the left. The white king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. With one last desperate look back at Ron, Harry and Hermione charged through the door and up the next passageway._

_'What if he's -?'_

_'He'll be all right,' said Harry, trying to convince himself. 'What do you reckon's next?'_

"Aren't you simply the sweetest thing," Narcissa cooed as she stroked Harry's hair, "trying to keep your sister's mind occupied so that she didn't worry about those unworthy of her time."

Everyone around the two of them sniggered softly, only to gape unattractively when Harry gave the lady a small smile, yawned and snuggled into her shoulder.

_'We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's.'_

_They had reached another door._

_'All right?' Harry whispered._

_'Go on.'_

_Harry pushed it open. A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making both of them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one they had tackled,_

_out cold with a bloody lump on its head._

Hermione ran out of the room with both of her hands covering her mouth. Luna followed her after a quick glance at Harry got her a nod of accent.

_'I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one,' Harry whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. 'Come on, I can't breathe.'_

_He pulled open the next door, both of them hardly daring to look at what came next - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line._

_'Snape's,' said Harry. 'What do we have to do?'_

_They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped._

_'Look!' Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Harry looked over her shoulder to read it:_

_Danger lies before you,_

_while safety lies behind,_

_Two of us will help you,_

_whichever you would find, _

_One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

_Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line._

_Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,_

_To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_

_Second, different are those who stand at either end,_

_But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;_

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

_Hermione let out a great sigh and Harry, amazed, saw that she was smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing._

"He has such little patience for logic puzzles," Neville shook his head in amusement.

"He has very little patience for anything that doesn't involve us," Luna laughed as she guided Hermione back to her place.

"Unless it is teaching others," Hermione added in with a weak smile.

Neville and Luna nodded their agreement as they looked at where Harry was.

_'Brilliant,' said Hermione. 'This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever.'_

_'But so will we, won't we?'_

"Yes, I forgot who I was with," Harry muttered sleepily, to much laughter.

_'Of course not,' said Hermione. 'Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple.'_

_'But how do we know which to drink?'_

_'Give me a minute.'_

_Hermione read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, she clapped her hands._

"How long did it take her?" Severus asked with a sigh.

"Two and a half minutes," Harry mumbled.

Severus blinked at the boy, who appeared to be asleep.

_'Got it,' she said. 'The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire - toward the Stone.'_

_Harry looked at the tiny bottle._

_'There's only enough there for one of us,' he said. 'That's hardly one swallow.'_

_They looked at each other._

_'Which one will get you back through the purple flames?'_

_Hermione pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line._

_'You drink that,' said Harry. 'No, listen, get back and get Ron. Grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy - go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really.'_

"No one is a match for Uncle Sev," Draco stated proudly.

"There were some who could match me in my youth, Draco … and I believe that there are one or two who can match me now as well," Severus stated.

_'But Harry - what if You-Know-Who's with him?'_

_'Well - I was lucky once, wasn't I?' said Harry, pointing at his scar. 'I might get lucky again.'_

_Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him._

_'Hermione!'_

_'Harry - you're a great wizard, you know.'_

_'I'm not as good as you,' said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him._

_'Me!' said Hermione. 'Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry -be careful!'_

"That's the sister I adopted, not the brat that has taken her place," Harry stated, making everyone jump.

Hermione pouted at him, making him laugh.

_'You drink first,' said Harry. 'You are sure which is which, aren't you?'_

_'Positive,' said Hermione. She took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered._

_'It's not poison?' said Harry anxiously._

_'No - but it's like ice.'_

_'Quick, go, before it wears off.'_

_'Good luck - take care.'_

_'GO!'_

"And he is still taking care of everyone else before he takes care of himself," Lucius muttered.

"Family first," Harry said with a shrug, even though his eyes were drooping once more.

_Hermione turned and walked straight through the purple fire._

_Harry took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He turned to face the black flames._

_'Here I come,' he said, and he drained the little bottle in one gulp. It was indeed as though ice was flooding his body. He put the bottle down and walked forward; he braced himself, saw the black flames licking his body, but couldn't feel them - for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire - then he was on the other side, in the last chamber._

_There was already someone there - but it wasn't Snape. It wasn't even Voldemort._

"So much for wishful thinking," Harry muttered.

"Come on Harry," Neville stated with a soft smile. "I have a few things for you to take so that we can continue with the next chapter."

"But I'm comfy," Harry whined.

"So you don't want this nasty contraption that Elise just zapped up?" Hermione asked, looking at the thing in her hands as if it was a snake.

Harry looked at the chocolate tart without any emotion. "No, I don't. I'm not hungry."

Everyone in the room exchanged horrified looks. Harry saying no to chocolate was a very bad thing.

"Sorry to do this My Liege," Neville said with a slightly paler colour on his face, "but this is an emergency."

Before anyone could react Luna had run across the room and whipped Harry off of Narcissa's lap. Once they could see the two of them again, it was to see Luna laying on the lounge, holding Harry as tightly as she could to her with one arm around Harry's waist and the other wrapped around his throat. Harry was struggling weakly while Neville was pouring vial after vial into Harry's mouth and making him swallow it.

"That's the last one Luna," Neville said, his face pure white. "He should be okay until we finish reading the last chapter now."

"I'll wait a little before releasing him," Luna panted, gritting her teeth with the strain of holding the now violently struggling boy.

"You are going to be in so much trouble for this, aren't we?" Hermione asked win a whisper.

"Probably," the two of them replied. "But it will be worth it."

"Whoever's reading next just start, we will deal with this," Neville whispered.

"As is our fate," Luna ended in a whisper just as soft.

Everyone nodded as Tom reached for the book, his heart thumping painfully in his chest.


	18. Chapter 18

AN – Well peeps, this is it, the second last chapter of HPPS and the last chapter which contains story concerning the first book. I hope that you have enjoyed this project of mine as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Watch this space in the next chapter, because it will have the name of the Sequel and when it will be posted. Until then, XoXo

Chapter 18

With one last look at the steadily calming boy wrapped in the petite girl's arms, Tom cleared his throat and turned his attention to the book before him.

_The Man With Two Faces_

_It was Quirrell._

Harry glared in the direction of the book, but no one was sure if it was to do with what had just been read or due to what Neville and Luna had just done to him. Tom fidgeted slightly as he quickly ducked his head and did his best to ignore the murderous intent that was aimed his way.

_'You!' gasped Harry._

_Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all. 'Me,' he said calmly. 'I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter.'_

_'But I thought - Snape -'_

"And you are still set in your belief that it was me," Severus stated blandly.

"Looking back at your behavior, can you blame him?" Luna scolded, tightening her grip on the boy in question when he growled threateningly at the sound of her voice

"No, I don't think I can," Severus stated, watching on in horrified interest.

_'Severus?' Quirrell laughed, and it wasn't his usual quivering treble, either, but cold and sharp._

_'Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?'_

Severus growled at that statement just as Harry's body went limp. Everyone turned to look at the boy as Luna released him with a weary sigh.

"It's alright," Neville said, sounding more drained then he really should have. "It's just one of the potions I had to give him. I hate giving it to him, but I had no choice in the matter."

"What potion was it?" Severus asked.

"One I don't recommend using ever," Neville said, looking disgusted with what he had been forced into doing. "He can feel his emotions he just can't act on them. He can yell, scream, plead, but he cannot move from whatever position we put him in. It isn't nice and it isn't comfortable."

"But it is the only thing that will stop him from tearing himself, us and the room apart that doesn't involve him being drained – which is what I will have to do as soon as this chapter is over. I'll half-drain him here then finish it off before we get off the train," Luna whispered.

"Why doesn't he like being drained?" Narcissa asked as she stood and made her way slowly over to the young man they were talking about, only to situate herself with Harry's head on her lap and started running her fingers through his hair.

"He becomes a marionette for the person who drains him," Hermione whispered, eyes blank. "He could be ordered to kill each and every member of his family and he will do so … and wake up the next morning not remembering anything about what happened unless questioned under Veritaserum.

Everyone in the room winced painfully as Tom hurriedly turned back to the book.

_Harry couldn't take it in. This couldn't be true, it couldn't._

Lucius blinked in confusion. "Was it really so bad that it wasn't Severus who was the instigator?"

"Yes!" Harry hissed, half in anger and half in terror.

"Shhh," Narcissa soothed him softly, running her fingers over his scalp a little harder. "Tell us why. I want you to explain it to me so I understand. I would have thought it was Severus if it had been me in your position," she continued, making the dark haired teen calm without hesitation, making the rest of the room gape at her in disbelief.

"Severus was a known entity," Harry said after taking a deep breath. "He's excellent with potions and defense. Good with curses, hexes and the Dark Arts and horrible with wards and anything to do with Arithmancy and divination while acceptable at everything else. Quirrel was a complete unknown."

Harry's breathing started to quicken in his remembered fear. "There was no mention of anyone by the name of 'Quirrel' until two years previous. We looked everywhere we could to find information and came up empty handed. I could tell you that Severus prefers his eggs poached to fried and on the left of his plate, toast – buttered to the edge with exactly five grams of lime and ginger marmalade at the top, one sausage under the toast horizontal to the eggs, one rasher of bacon cut into thirds on the right, two pieces of fried tomato at the bottom, roasted mushrooms, onions and red peppers in the center served with a smear of hot mustard, a drop of worstershire sauce and an Earl Grey tea seeped for exactly five point one seven seconds with no milk or sugar."

Harry rambled, not noticing the shocked looks on everyone faces – most of all that of his Potions professor. "But there was nothing for Quirrel! I didn't know how to distract him!" Harry started to fully hyperventilate, forcing Narcissa out of her shock and into an attempt at calming him down.

"I sincerely doubt that you know how to distract me," Severus stated with a raised eyebrow, trying – in his own way – to get Harry to calm down. It seemed that talking about something that wasn't attached to the name 'Quirrel' would be the only way to go.

Neville gave a nod of acknowledgment at what Severus and Narcissa were doing to calm his friend and while he was distracted by the both of them, he handed his friend a vial of calming potion, sighing in relief as the teen downed it without thinking.

"I was going to reveal myself and just let you go on your incompetent Gryffindor rant then use my speed to dodge until help came," Harry admitted as the potion kicked in.

"You were going to encourage me to lose my temper at you?" Severus asked, blinking in shock, as were Lucius and Tom – both of whom knew just how bad he could get on his rants concerning anything to do with Gryffindor's or Potters.

Harry nodded as he picked up Narcissa's hand and started to inspect it as though it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

_'But Snape tried to kill me!'_

_'No, no, no. I tried to kill you. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a countercurse, trying to save you.'_

"And wasn't that something to learn," Hermione muttered only just loud enough for the rest of the room to hear her. "After spending the majority of the year thinking that we had to protect the noble Git from a teacher who was trying to kill him – and succeeding, mind you – we then find out that we were in fact protecting him from the bloody well wrong one!"

_'Snape was trying to save me?'_

_'Of course,' said Quirrell coolly. 'Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match?_

"I didn't want to," Severus angrily hissed at the book in his Lord's hands. "I was coerced into it. Coerced I say!"

Draco looked at Severus with an odd look on his face before he slowly stood and hid behind the seat that held Blaise and Pansy – who were both watching their Head of House with odd smiles on their faces.

_He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really… he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular… and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight.'_

Harry poked himself on the cheek and giggled softly, catching everyone's attention. He picked a new spot and poked himself again, releasing another giggle. "Sorry to say this, but I'm still alive!" he announced in a sing-song voice before frowning. "At least … I think I am …"

Without thinking about it, he poked himself in the eye. "Ouch!" he pouted and looked up Narcissa, who was watching him with an eyebrow raised as though asking him what he was doing. "That hurt," he said sadly, making said woman bite her lips hard as she struggled not to laugh.

"I thought you said he wouldn't be able to move unless you moved him yourself," Blaise said dryly as he attempted to hold up a madly cackling Pansy.

"Damn it, this means he's growing used to the recipe," Neville softly swore. "Luna, we are going to have to increase the strength again."

_Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Harry._

_'You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone.'_

Harry turned and looked at Severus with wide, innocent eyes. "See Pr'fessor," he stated, earnestly, "It is 'Mione that leads me into trouble, not the other way round."

Severus stood, frowning thoughtfully as everyone in the room scoffed or snorted in amusement at what the boy had said. Making his way over to where Harry and Narcissa were seated, he lit the end of his wand and shone it into Harry's eyes, shaking his head as Harry's pupils remained fully extended.

"Congratulations, Mister Longbottom," he said smoothly as he made his way back to his seat. "You have managed to put Mister Potter into a potion-related drug high."

"Thank you, Sir," Neville replied non-chantey. "It was either make him high through potions or have him pull me and Luna apart at the joints like one butchers a cow carcass. I much rather this route – it's less messy."

Hermione laughed softly and smacked Neville up the back of the head. "He would not and you know it. He'd not be so neat about it and just tear your limbs off."

The Slytherins in the room watched the three remaining 'light' students as they started to bicker over just how Harry would have killed two of their number if he wasn't high at that moment. Eventually, Tom cleared his throat to get their attention and turned back to the book, ignoring the slight giggling that was now coming from Harry as he started poking a finger in between Narcissa's fingers.

_'You let the troll in?'_

_'Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls_

"That's really not something that you want to go around bragging about," Pansy said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

_- you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there?'_

_Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off - and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly."_

"Now don't I feel loved," Severus stated dryly, looking meaningfully over at Tom, who cleared his throat nervously as he remembered just who it was that made all of his personal potions.

_Now, wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror.'_

_It was only then that Harry realized what was standing behind Quirrell. It was the Mirror of Erised._

"Not that thing again?" Lucius groaned.

"Yep, that thing again. Good thing I knew how to use it this time round, isn't it?" Harry said as he nuzzled into the hand that he still held, much to Narcissa's entertainment. Who could have known that the young man whose head was on her lap was such a cuddle-monster?

_'This mirror is the key to finding the Stone,' Quirrell murmured, tapping his way around the frame. 'Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this… but he's in London… I'll be far away by the time he gets back…'_

"Now THAT was wishful thinking," Hermione laughed, getting a bright grin from Harry.

_All Harry could think of doing was to keep Quirrell talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror._

"See," Tom teased gently, poking Harry's foot. "You're just an all round annoyance."

Harry turned and looked at Tom seriously for a few moments, ignoring the mounting tention, which dropped to non-existant as soon as he poked his tongue out at the man and tried to grab his finger between his toes.

"If he's like this while on a potion high, can you imagine what he'd be like drunk?" Blaise asked Pansy and Draco.

"NO!" Hermione, Luna and Neville screamed. "Just … no!"

_'I saw you and Snape in the forest -' he blurted out._

_'Yes,' said Quirrell idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. 'He was on to me by that time, trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me - as though he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side…'_

"What is it with bad guys believing they've won when they have the hero tied to a chair?" Harry whined. "For god's sake, kill the poor idiot before going on your rant – it's a lot less torture for them, believe me."

Neville chuckled and shook his head, "That was word-for-word what he said when Hermione tied him up and left him on the chair when she forced him to watch a James Bond marathon with us," he explained to the wide-eyed Slytherin students.

_Quirrell came back out from behind the mirror and stared hungrily into it._

"And that wasn't odd in the slightest," Harry chattered happily at Narcissa, who was beginning to lose her fight with her laughter. "Sometimes wonder if he really saw what he said he saw or if he saw a Sunday roast with all the trimmings."

Narcissa couldn't help herself as she let loose a few giggles at the image of a faceless man with a trussed up child at his feet looking into a mirror and drooling at the sight of the roast meal that was reflected in it.

_'I see the Stone… I'm presenting it to my master… but where is it?'_

_Harry struggled against the ropes binding him, but they didn't give. He had to keep Quirrell from giving his whole attention to the mirror._

"No self-preservation instincts to speak of," Lucius sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

"No, they seem to be reserved for his family alone," Blaise commented.

"He was going through one of his suicide contemplations," Hermione said softly, face turned away from the two males. "He may not actively seek death out, but there are times when he subconsciously yearns for it."

Lucius, Severus and Tom exchanged horrified glances at what the young witch revealed about her best friend. It looked like they would need to keep an even closer eye on the teen if he sort it out subconsciously.

_'But Snape always seemed to hate me so much.'_

_'Oh, he does,' said Quirrell casually, 'heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead.'_

"No, just as an ingredient in a potion," Harry chirruped happily at the same time that Severus growled it since the teen had started to throw small balls of screwed up paper at him. Luna started to giggle at the two of them. They were just so cute!

_'But I heard you a few days ago, sobbing - I thought Snape was threatening you…'_

_For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Quirrell's face._

"He was scared of THAT?" Tom asked, laughing. "All I did was threaten to turn him into a reptile."

"Maybe he would have felt more at ease as an insect," Harry stated seriously. "Something that made a satisfying crunch when you stood on it … like a cockroach."

Neville pat Harry on the head as he walked past him on his way to the bathroom. "Maybe next time Harry."

"Okay!" Harry beamed excitedly, wriggling around in his place.

_'Sometimes,' he said, 'I find it hard to follow my master's instructions - he is a great wizard and I am weak -'_

_'You mean he was there in the classroom with you?' Harry gasped._

_'He is with me wherever I go,'_

"Oh that MUST have been nasty," Luna said with a scrunched up nose, "How in the world did you survive it when he showered?"

_said Quirrell quietly. 'I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it…Since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me.' Quirrell shivered suddenly. 'He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me… decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me…'_

"You just wanted to possess something other than a rodent, didn't you," Harry asked in a teasing fashion, going so far as to get up and poke at the Dark Lord's arm.

"Guilty as charged," Tom chuckled as he tried to dodge the fingers aimed at him.

_Quirrell's voice trailed away. Harry was remembering his trip to Diagon Alley - how could he have been so stupid? He'd seen Quirrell there that very day, shaken hands with him in the Leaky Cauldron._

"You don't still beat yourself up over that do you?" Neville asked carefully as signs of a crash slowly started to show themselves in Harry's behavior.

"No," Harry yawned, "Al made it very clear that it wasn't my job to recognize it for what it was as I was only a child at the time." He blinked in shock before turning narrowed eyes at a suddenly nervous Neville and Luna. "Once we meet up after I have had a session with Al, the two of you are going to be soooo much trouble,' he growled.

Luna and Neville gulp. It seemed that Harry's high was over and he was most definitely not impressed with them.

_Quirrell cursed under his breath._

_'I don't understand… is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?'_

"Yes! Break it, break it, break it," Harry and Neville started chanting.

Hermione and Luna just rolled their eyes at the two boys before turning their attention fully to Tom once more.

_Harry's mind was racing._

"When isn't it?" Hermione, Neville and Luna chorused rhetorically.

"In class," Harry replied cheekily, making everyone either shake their heads in despair or snort in amusement.

_What I want more than anything else in the world at the moment, he thought, is to find the Stone before Quirrell does. So if I look in the mirror, I should see myself finding it - which means I'll see where it's hidden! But how can I look without Quirrell realizing what I'm up to? He tried to edge to the left, to get in front of the glass without Quirrell noticing, but the ropes around his ankles were too tight: he tripped and fell over._

_Quirrell ignored him. He was still talking to himself._

"Second sign of madness," Harry sang out.

"I thought it was the first," Hermione said with a frown as she reviewed her knowledge of the signs of madness.

"Nope! First is denying the fact that you are mad," Harry said, nodding his head in agreement with what he had said.

"Then you must be sane," Neville cut in dryly.

"Nope, I'm just not ashamed of it," Harry said with a scrunched up happy face.

"Are they always like this?" Lucius asked as he rubbed his temples.

"Only when Harry is happy," Luna answered him. "He may be annoyed with Neville and me, but he is happy that we love him enough to do what is the best for him. It's kind of our family thing so you might not understand.

_'What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!'_

_And to Harry's horror, a voice answered, and the voice seemed to come from Quirrell himself._

_'Use the boy… Use the boy…'_

Harry turned a violent green color. "No, please don't use the boy. The boy is very happy to not see your tiny pencil."

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear you say that," Tom muttered, looking very sick himself.

"Me too," Severus, Lucius and Narcissa chorused.

_Quirrell rounded on Harry._

_'Yes - Potter - come here.'_

_He clapped his hands once, and the ropes binding Harry fell off._

_Harry got slowly to his feet._

_'Come here,' Quirrell repeated. 'Look in the mirror and tell me what you see.'_

"My shriveled, blackened soul due to torturing poor defenseless Grindilows in third and fourth year," Harry answered with all seriousness.

Blaise, Draco and Pansy exchanged looks and bit their lips in an effort to keep them shut.

_Harry walked toward him._

_I must lie, he thought desperately. I must look and lie about what I see, that's all._

_Quirrell moved close behind him. Harry breathed in the funny smell that seemed to come from Quirrell's turban. He closed his eyes, stepped in front of the mirror, and opened them again._

_He saw his reflection, pale and scared-looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the Stone back in its pocket - and as it did so, Harry felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow - incredibly -he'd gotten the Stone._

Tom grumbled ineligibly under his breath after he read that, narrowing his eyes slightly at the smug twist to the teen's lips.

_'Well?' said Quirrell impatiently. 'What do you see?'_

_Harry screwed up his courage. 'I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore,' he invented. 'I - I've won the house cup for Gryffindor.'_

"A very believable lie considering your age, sex and house," Narcissa said with a chuckle.

"Can you imagine what would have happened if I had said that I saw myself as the green power ranger?" Harry giggled, causing Hermione to choke on the drink she had just started.

"What's a Power ranger, and why is it green?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"I'll show you over the summer," Harry giggled softly.

_Quirrell cursed again._

_'Get out of the way,' he said. As Harry moved aside, he felt the Philosopher's Stone against his leg. Dare he make a break for it?_

_But he hadn't walked five paces before a high voice spoke, though Quirrell wasn't moving his lips._

_'He lies… He lies…'_

_'Potter, come back here!' Quirrell shouted. 'Tell me the truth! What did you just see?'_

"Okay, I'm curious now," Tom sighed, turning to face the smiling teen. "What would have you done if I wasn't so impatient?"

"I would have said it was none of his business and it was private," Harry grinned. "Then I would have burst into Crocodile tears and blabbered about seeing me living with someone who loved me enough to buy me my own clothes and my own room instead of a cupboard before flinging my arms around his waist and blubbering into his robes." Harry shrugged. "I've found it is enough to freak out even the strongest of people."

Tom shuddered violently. "I am so very very very glad that I was impatient that day."

"Oh I'm sure that you are," Harry agreed, giving him a shark-like grin.

_The high voice spoke again. 'Let me speak to him… face-to-face…'_

_'Master, you are not strong enough!'_

_'I have strength enough… for this…'_

_Harry felt as if Devil's Snare was rooting him to the spot. He couldn't move a muscle._

_Petrified,_

"Literally," Harry growled. "The bastard petrified me! It felt as though I'd shatter like marble if I had been pushed over."

_he watched as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban._

_What was going on? The turban fell away. Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot._

_Harry would have screamed, but he couldn't make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake._

"I am very thankful that that faze is over and done with," Tom sighed with relief as he pat his face with his hands. "Don't ask me why I believed that it would be better for me to look like that in the first place."

"That's an easy one!" Harry smiled. "You were insane." He tilted his head to one side, curious. "Do you think that they will put us into the same room in the Asylum?"

Tom shuddered at the thought. "Oh I hope not."

Harry pouted at the man before turning around so he couldn't see him and sulked.

_'Harry Potter…' it whispered._

_Harry tried to take a step backward but his legs wouldn't move._

_'See what I have become?' the face said. 'Mere shadow and vapor… I have form only when I can share another's body… but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds… Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks… you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest… and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own… Now… why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?'_

"See what I mean?" Harry ranted, pointing at the book in a demented manner. "Nothing but 'blah, blah, blah, see how hard my life is with you in it, blah, blah, blah … GET OVER IT ALREADY!" he finished by yelling at the book

Hermione, Neville and Luna snorted in amusement as if they had had this talk before.

_So he knew. The feeling suddenly surged back into Harry's legs. He stumbled backward._

"Hold on," Pansy announced, looking at Harry with eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I thought you said that he had petrified you with a spell."

"He had," Harry said with a sheepish grin. "I had another outbreak of accidental magic due to the adrenaline in my system."

Pansy's eyes narrowed even further, not sure whether or not she should believe him or not.

_'Don't be a fool,' snarled the face. 'Better save your own life and join me…or you'll meet the same end as your parents… They died begging me for mercy…'_

Harry snarled - his eyes flashing dangerously - at Tom as those words once again left his lips. Tom flinched away from the angry teen, desperately wishing that he could have stopped his insanity earlier than he had done.

_'LIAR!' Harry shouted suddenly._

_Quirrell was walking backward at him, so that Voldemort could still see him. The evil face was now smiling._

"I would have been smiling too," Harry said neutrally, "But it would have been because he tripped over his own feet and cracked his head open on the ground."

"This is all Al's fault," Hermione said mournfully as she, Luna and Neville put their head into their hands and shook their heads slowly.

"No it's not," Harry stated.

"Yes, it is," Luna stated back firmly.

"No," Harry said snootily.

"Yes," Neville said, exasperatedly.

"No," Harry scowled.

"Yes," Hermione replied haughtily.

"No," Harry stubbornly insisted.

"No," Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused, all scowling at the teen.

"See," Harry said with a sweet smile, "You all agree with me … He's innocent in all this."

Hermione blinked in shock. "Well … that backfired on us."

Harry just stuck his tongue out at the girl, who then proceeded to try and grab the offending appendage between her thumb and forefinger, making herself, Harry, Luna and Neville giggle like little school girls every time she failed.

_'How touching…' it hissed. 'I always value bravery… Yes, boy, your parents were brave… I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight… but your mother needn't have died… she was trying to protect you… Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain.'_

Tom yelped and ran to the bathroom as the seat of his chair burst into flames in response to the glare that Harry was sending his way. He didn't see the smug satisfaction on Severus' face – no one spoke about HIS big sister that way and got away with it. The man may have gotten away with killing her, but it was only because of his inherent insanity, so it was a very close thing.

In the end, it took five minutes and a wizards oath from Harry that he wouldn't attempt to kill Tom for what had been said in the past concerning his mother to get the resident Dark Lord back into the room with the rest of them.

_'NEVER!'_

_Harry sprang toward the flame door, but Voldemort screamed 'SEIZE HIM!' and the next second, Harry felt Quirrell's hand close on his wrist. At once, a needle-sharp pain seared across Harry's scar; his head felt as though it was about to split in two; he yelled, struggling with all his might, and to his surprise, Quirrell let go of him._

Everyone looked around at the people around them in confusion at what was happening.

_The pain in his head lessened_

"How much did it reduce by?" Narcissa asked, worried about the sweet boy that she was keeping calm.

"Enough to think through," Harry replied with a shrug of indifference.

_- he looked around wildly to see where Quirrell had gone, and saw him hunched in pain, looking at his fingers - they were blistering before his eyes._

"Voluntarily used sacrificial ritual magic at its very best," Harry said with a look of love on his face at what his mother had done for him.

Tom nodded his head in agreement. It may be the one branch of magic that he didn't understand and would never use himself, but the results of what it could do was seated in the same room as him.

_'Seize him! SEIZE HIM!' shrieked Voldemort again, and Quirrell lunged, knocking Harry clean off his feet landing on top of him, both hands around Harry's neck - Harry's scar was almost blinding him with pain, yet he could see Quirrell howling in agony._

Everyone in the room glanced down at their hands and winced at the thought of what could have been happening to Quirrel's hands to cause him so much pain.

_'Master, I cannot hold him - my hands - my hands!'_

_And Quirrell, though pinning Harry to the ground with his knees, let go of his neck and stared, bewildered, at his own palms - Harry could see they looked burned, raw, red, and shiny._

"And cue the formation of a plan through pain that would make a migraine seem to be an annoyance by comparison," Hermione sighed in exasperation before muttering, "I'm so glad that I'm on his side…"

_'Then kill him, fool, and be done!' screeched Voldemort._

"What happened to wanting to kill me yourself?" Harry asked, looking at the man in question and wobbling his bottom lip as moisture gathered in his eyes. "Have you lost interest in our rivalry? Am I nothing to you anymore?" He gave a small sob and hid his face in Narcissa's skirt.

"Ah … Er … That is …" Tom stuttered.

Severus and Lucius coughed to cover something that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"Oh that is sooo cute!" Narcissa squealed, pulling the shocked teen further into her lap and hugging him tightly. "You are so going to have to teach that to my granddaughters!"

"HELL NO!" Draco shouted, standing up with the force of his words.

"What was that Dragon?" Narcissa asked icily.

"I said Hell No Mother," Draco trembled slightly but held his ground before her. "I am going to have a hard enough time saying no to any child I have. I don't think I'll survive if they learn that look."

"I hate to say it Draco," Harry giggled, "But all little girls are born knowing that look and how to use it to the best of their abilities."

Draco whimpered as Severus raised an eyebrow in Harry's direction.

"Did you just knowingly call yourself a female?" he asked.

"No," Harry said with a grin. "I said that little girls are born with the ability to use that look and have the knowledge of how to use it instinctually – Boys, however, have the ability to use it … if they don't mind the fact that it makes them look feminine."

"Ok, I'm only going to have boys!" Draco announced in a panic, "Big, strong masculine boys!"

Harry, Hermione, Blaise, Pansy, Neville and Luna all started to laugh at the flustered blonde as he panicked over the thought of facing a child with the same face as a kicked puppy.

_Quirrell raised his hand to perform a deadly curse, but Harry, by instinct, reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face -_

_'AAAARGH!'_

_Quirrell rolled off him, his face blistering, too, and then Harry knew: Quirrell couldn't touch his bare skin, not without suffering terrible pain - his only chance was to keep hold of Quirrell, keep him in enough pain to stop him from doing a curse._

Everyone turned around to look at Harry who sat up and looked behind him in confusion, making everyone laugh and him to blush slightly in embarrassment.

_Harry jumped to his feet, caught Quirrell by the arm, and hung on as tight as he could. Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Harry off - the pain in Harry's head was building - he couldn't see - he could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, 'KILL HIM! KILL HIM!' and other voices, maybe in Harry's own head, crying, 'Harry! Harry!'_

_He felt Quirrell's arm wrenched from his grasp, knew all was lost, and fell into blackness, down… down… down…_

"How the Hell did you manage that?" Severus asked harshly.

"I'm not scared of death," Harry answered honestly. "Pain is irrelevant when compared to what will occur to those closest to you if you failed.

"But if you die, don't you fail?" Blaise asked in confusion.

"Only if you die due to lack of action," Harry smiled gently at the confused teen. "If you've fought so hard that your teeth are cracked and your nails are bleeding, yet you still die, then you haven't failed, you were just up against someone of superior skill and/or knowledge. There is nothing shameful about that because you weakened your foe for the person who faces them after you go down."

Blaise, Draco and Pansy stared at Harry in shock at what had just left his mouth. Tom, Lucius and Narcissa looked at him with wide eyes while Severus looked at Harry as though he had never seen him before in his life. Neville, Luna and Hermione all straightened with pride before inclined their heads in Harry's direction in a sign of respect. This was the man who each of them had sworn their lives to – and it was about time that the rest of the world saw in him what they saw in him at the tender age of eleven.

_Something gold was glinting just above him. The Snitch!_

Everyone in the room bar Hermione started to laugh at the bright red dark-haired teen. While no one was looking at her, Hermione grabbed the thickest book that she could find and launched herself at Harry who yelped and fell on the floor to more laughter.

"YOU ALMOST DIE AND YOUR FIRST THOUGHT IS OF QUIDDITCH!" she shrieked, emphasizing each word by hitting Harry wherever she could with the book while everyone else just kept laughing at the two of them. She finally stopped hitting him when he managed to turn her around and pin her arms to her sides by wrapping his arms around her. Without warning she burst into tears while Harry started to rock her gently as he crooned to her and stroked her hair, much like Narcissa had done to him just moments before hand, only for her to start hitting him again, which he allowed with a long-suffering sigh.

_He tried to catch it, but his arms were too heavy._

_He blinked. It wasn't the Snitch at all. It was a pair of glasses. How strange._

Hermione froze half-way through hitting harry on the chest and blinked, the tears slowing. "Did you have your glasses on?" she asked.

"I was in the hospital wing and non-responsive since before I had arrived," Harry scowled, rubbing his chest gently. "Do you think that Poppy would have left my glasses on my face where they could do damage should I jolt awake and panic at the unfamiliarity of the area?"

Neville snorted suddenly only to back away from him with his hands in the air at the force of Harry's glare. "Sorry," he chocked out, "It's just the thought of the hospital wing being unfamiliar to you is hilarious."

Harry sneered at the other boy and stood with a grimace, his arms still holding Hermione.

Neville stopped laughing instantaneously and stepped towards Harry to start checking him or damage, only to get Hermione thrust into his arms with a growl as Harry made his way back to his place on the seat with Narcissa.

_He blinked again. The smiling face of Albus Dumbledore swam into view above him._

_'Good afternoon, Harry,' said Dumbledore._

_Harry stared at him. Then he remembered: 'Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! He's got the Stone! Sir, quick -'_

Harry growled for apparently no reason, so Narcissa gently coaxed his head back onto her lap and she resumed running her fingers through his hair.

_'Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times,'_

"And whose fault is that?" Harry hissed, bordering on the barrier between English and Parseltongue.

_said Dumbledore. 'Quirrell does not have the Stone.'_

_'Then who does? Sir, I -'_

_'Harry, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out.'_

"I would pay good money to see that," Harry and Tom both sighed dreamily as they pictured the joyous event in their mind's eye.

_Harry swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the hospital wing. He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets, and next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop._

"You didn't eat all of that at once did you?" Narcissa asked worriedly. She immediately thought of her son, who she knew would have started on the sweets as soon as the Healer's back was turned.

As though he knew what his mother was thinking, Draco turned his head away, flushing slightly.

Harry's eyes locked onto the flush of color and he licked his lips as his eyes followed the blushes progress across the pale teen's nose, cheeks and down his throat.

Narcissa gently tugged on the hair that was between her fingers to get Harry's attention on her and her question rather than devouring her son with his eyes.

"Sorry," Harry gasped slightly at the slightly sharp sensation and closed his eyes so he couldn't be tempted by the seductive blonde across from him. "I was lucky to get what I did eventually get, 'Cissa. Ron saw it and scoffed four fifths of it before I could offer stuff to anyone."

_'Tokens from your friends and admirers,_

"Yeah," Harry snorted in disgust, "'friends' and 'admirers'. They are nothing but sheep! If they think that spending three knuts on something I didn't even want, nor need would make me forgive them for almost two and a half months' worth of Hell that THEY put me through, then they are STUPID SHEEP!"

"It's ok Harry," Luna said cheerfully. "Even stupid sheep have a place in the world – what do you think we feed to the thestrals?"

Harry blinked at the blonde girl for a moment before curling up into a ball, holding his ribs due to the force of his laughter.

"Oh I needed that sweetie. Thank you."

_' said Dumbledore, beaming. 'What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows._

"No they didn't," Pansy chuckled softly. "They thought they did, but it wasn't even close."

"I'll say," Draco said with a nod, "The one that I heard was that Quirrel was attempting to kidnap Harry so he could force him into playing Professional Quidditch so he could take the money for himself."

Harry, Hermione and Luna choked on their saliva as they struggled to breathe through their laughter.

_I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it.'_

"I should hope so!" Narcissa scolded, going slightly green. That cannot have been sanitary!"

"It's alright Narcissa," Harry cooed softly, "They mail-ordered a brand new one from a muggle friend of Lee's."

"Muggles have shops that sell TOILET SEATS?" Draco asked incredulously.

_'How long have I been in here?'_

_'Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried.'_

"Of course I was worried," Hermione gaped in self-righteousness. "My best friend was unconscious for three days due to a teacher – it was my greatest fear come to life!"

Harry sighed softly and sat up, giving Narcissa a soft press of the lips to her cheek before moving over to curl up with Hermione in the arm chair she had claimed as hers for that day's reading.

_'But sir, the Stone -'_

"Once you commit to something, you put your all into it, don't you?" Lucius asked with a whistle.

"I believe the term you are looking for is 'tenacious'," Harry, Hermione and Luna chorused.

"Yes, I do believe that I was," he chuckled.

"Damn," Neville swore, "I was going for pig-headed!"

_'I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say.'_

"I want that man out of Hogwarts," Narcissa hissed, eyes icy, "Or I will make the rest of your life a living HELL, Lucius. Do you understand me?"

"I'll start working on it as soon as these books are finished," Lucius gulped, before hurrying on as he saw Narcissa open her mouth. "We may find more things to charge him with throughout the books, my dear. This is only the first of five years that Harry has been at school, remember?"

Narcissa glared at him for a few moments before relaxing slightly. "Of course, dear."

_'You got there? You got Hermione's owl?'_

_'We must have crossed in midair. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you.'_

"It takes a maximum of fifteen minutes to get from here to Hogsmeade," Severus scowled, "another five minutes top to get to the Ministry by apparation and a further twenty to get in to the building to see the Minister. He should have been back within fifty to sixty minutes rather than the almost seven hours that he was gone."

"I told you already," Harry said in a monotonal voice, "I'm nothing but a weapon to be used then discarded."

"No you aren't," Hermione whimpered and curled up tighter with him. "Not to us you aren't, you are our everything! We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."

"You are the bright sun set in the center of our solar system," Luna said as she and Neville climbed onto the armchair and curled up as well without enlarging it so all four of them were squashed together in the small space.

"I'm just so tired," he admitted as he dropped his head onto Hermione's shoulder. "I can't go on like this for much longer."

"You won't have to," Neville said firmly, dragging Harry's head up to look him fiercely in the eye. "Not for much longer. As soon as we leave the school for this year, you no longer have to play a part – and we will stand behind you every merlin-blessed step of the way, damn everyone else!"

Harry smiled at Neville and slowly lowered his head onto Hermione's shoulder once more, cuddling into the warmth that the other three produced.

_'It was you.'_

_'I feared I might be too late.'_

_'You nearly were, I couldn't have kept him off the Stone much longer -'_

_'Not the Stone, boy, you - the effort involved nearly killed you. For one terrible moment there, I was afraid it had._

Harry turned his head slightly, giving everyone that wasn't situated on the same chair as him a glance at his face, which held a dreamy smile at the thought. They all breathed a small sigh of relief when three hands reached around and through the tangle of bodies and slapped the back of Harry's head with a firm "NO!" coming from three individual mouths. Harry smiled sheepishly and resumed snuggling into his small family.

_As for the Stone, it has been destroyed.'_

_'Destroyed?' said Harry blankly. 'But your friend - Nicholas Flamel -'_

_'Oh, you know about Nicholas?' said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted._

"Only because Harry did better than Twittle-dick thought he would do on the test he had set for him," Neville growled deeply, causing both Harry and Hermione to shudder as the sound travelled though their bodies.

_'You did do the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicholas and I have had a little chat, and agreed it's all for the best.'_

_'But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?'_

_'They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die.'_

_Dumbledore smiled at the look of amazement on Harry's face._

_'To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicholas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure._

"I wasn't looking like that for their wanting to die," Harry whispered with deep longing, "But because I had finally found someone else who welcomed death with open arms. The only difference between them and me is that they were finally allowed to have what they desired. I," he stated bitterly," I, have not yet earned that particular privilege."

Luna, Hermione and Neville exchanged panicked looks. It seemed that the potion that they had given to him had the side effect of bringing forth all the negative feelings that Harry left buried deep within him to the surface.

_You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.'_

_Harry lay there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and smiled at the ceiling._

_'Sir?' said Harry. 'I've been thinking… sir - even if the Stone's gone, Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who -'_

_'Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.'_

"What if it is due to respect and not fear?" Harry rhetorically asked the absent twinkle-eyed wizard.

_'Yes, sir. Well, Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?'_

_'No, Harry, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share… not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die;_

"And isn't that a wonderful way of telling an eleven year old that he caused a man's death?" Luna spat in spite.

Lucius and Severus exchanged horrified looks.

_he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time - and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power.'_

_Harry nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made his head hurt. Then he said, 'Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me… things I want to know the truth about…'_

"If you wish for the truth, make sure that it is what you truly want to hear," Pansy stated in a half-daze.

"I'd rather have the truth in all its painful glory then live a life surrounded by pretty lies," Harry stated solemnly.

"A wise choice," Pansy stated seriously, eyes still glazed, "but will you regret your choice later?"

Harry untangled himself from his nest of friends and moved to before Pansy's chair before spreading his arms wide, looking deep into Pansy's eyes. "Never! I can protect my family better by knowing the truth. I tell nothing but truth – even when the situation calls for a lie, I tell the truth. Omitting facts is not lying; it is just not giving all the information to those who do not need to know it."

Pansy nodded then blinked and looked around in confusion. "What just happened?"

Harry's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed as though he was a puppet that had his strings cut.

"HARRY!" everyone screamed as he went down.

Severus got to the teen first and checked him over with gentle hands, "He's going to be fine," he breathed. "He's just been overwhelmed by magic."

"How can you tell?" Hermione asked, face pale as she looked at her best friend.

"His eyes," Lucius stated. "See how they are flittering? It's like he is reading exceedingly fast. This is what happens when someone is honest in their search for the truth – Magic gives them the truth. Whether or not they remember what they learnt depends on the individual. Many do not remember until it is too late for them to do anything about it."

"It takes a special person to see the blatant truth and accept it without willing themselves to see what they want to see instead," Narcissa added gently. "It seems that we will see whether or not Harry is one of those few individuals."

_'The truth.' Dumbledore sighed. 'It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie.'_

"There is a difference between not lying and omitting vital information that concerns the life of someone else," Luna hissed, remembering what had been the cause of the group of them going to the Ministry in the first place.

_'Well… Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?'_

_Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time._

_'Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day… put it from your mind for now, Harry. When you are older… I know you hate to hear this… when you are ready, you will know.'_

"Yeah," Harry said bitterly with a harsh cough, making everyone jump in shock since they hadn't expected him to be awake this early. "You told me when I was ready all right. YOU TOLD ME THE SAME FUCKING HOUR THAT I LOST THE MOST IMPORTANTPERSON TO ME YOU DODGERING OLD BASTARD!" Harry screamed at the book, eyes flashing between green, black and red.

Hermione, Luna and Neville stood and pulled him into a four-way embrace and pulled him back to their chair, holding him as the snow drained teen sobbed into their clothes.

_And Harry knew it would be no good to argue._

_'But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?'_

_'Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark._

"Sacrificial magic …" Severus whispered, closing his eyes as he thought of the woman he was lucky enough to have befriended in his youth.

_Not a scar, no visible sign… to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.'_

_Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the windowsill, which gave Harry time to dry his eyes on the sheet._

_When he had found his voice again, Harry said, 'And the invisibility cloak - do you know who sent it to me?'_

_'Ah - your father happened to leave it in my possession, and I thought you might like it.' Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. 'Useful things… your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here.'_

"Liar!" Harry, Hermione and Severus snorted.

_'And there's something else…'_

_'Fire away.'_

_'Quirrell said Snape -'_

_'Professor Snape, Harry.'_

_'Yes, him_

Everyone in the room started laughing at the affronted look on Severus' face, only to watch with wide eyes as Harry transitioned from laughing to crying without any external change.

_- Quirrell said he hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?'_

_'Well, they did rather detest each other. Not unlike yourself and Mr. Malfoy. And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive.'_

_'What?'_

_'He saved his life.'_

"Before I forget," Harry sniffled with a sharp click of his fingers, "I, Harry James Potter, release Severus Tobias Snape from his life debt to one James Charlus Potter. So mote it be."

Severus looked at Harry with wide eyes. "Thank you," he whispered roughly." Harry nodded in his direction once before hiding his face in Hermione's blouse once more.

_'What?'_

_'Yes…' said Dumbledore dreamily. 'Funny, the way people's minds work, isn't it? Professor Snape couldn't bear being in your father's debt… I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace…'_

_Harry tried to understand this but it made his head pound, so he stopped._

_'And sir, there's one more thing…'_

_'Just the one?'_

_'How did I get the Stone out of the mirror?'_

"It's the Harry Factor," Hermione, Luna and Neville chorused, nodding seriously.

"Oh for ..!" Harry let out a soft, wordless scream as though he was trying to get rid of frustration while only having taken a quarter breath.

_'Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life._

_My brain surprises even me sometimes…_

"And you are oh so modest as well," Hermione spat viciously.

_Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them - but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?'_

_He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, 'Alas! Ear wax!'_

"Well, it's not my idea of the perfect revenge, but I guess it's a start," Blaise stated too much laughter.

_Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was a nice woman, but very strict._

"You think she's nice?" Blaise, Draco, Lucius and Severus chorused, looking at Harry as though he had just admitted that his lifelong dream was to disown his magic and work as a muggle manure shoveller.

"What?" Harry asked with a confused frown, "She is nice."

"Just how often do you find yourself in there, young man?" Narcissa asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Often enough that there is a bed that has been set aside for his use and his use alone," Neville chuckled.

_'Just five minutes,' Harry pleaded._

_'Absolutely not.'_

_'You let Professor Dumbledore in…'_

_'Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. You need rest.'_

_'I am resting, look, lying down and everything. Oh, go on, Madam Pomfrey…'_

_'Oh, very well,' she said. 'But five minutes only.'_

_And she let Ron and Hermione in._

"She … how … What …" Severus chocked out before giving up and gaping at Harry, making him fidget uncomfortably.

_'Harry!'_

_Hermione looked ready to fling her arms around him again, but Harry was glad she held herself in as his head was still very sore._

"Well, the flinch did kind of give it away, brother dearest," she chuckled.

"Aww," Harry pouted playfully, "And here I've been thinking it was because I looked like shit."

"Now that I think of it," Hermione teased, "that may have had something to do with it after all."

"Why you cheeky little bratlette," Harry laughed and started to tickle Hermione, getting Neville and Luna every now and then due to how close they all were.

_'Oh, Harry, we were sure you were going to - Dumbledore was so worried -'_

_'The whole school's talking about it,' said Ron. 'What really happened?'_

_It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumors. Harry told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort. Ron and Hermione were a very good audience; they gasped in all the right places, and when Harry told them what was under Quirrell's turban, Hermione screamed out loud._

_'So the Stone's gone?' said Ron finally. 'Flamel's just going to die?'_

_'That's what I said, but Dumbledore thinks that - what was it? - to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'_

_'I always said he was off his rocker,' said Ron, looking quite impressed at how crazy his hero was._

_'So what happened to you two?' said Harry._

"Still more worried about them even though you are the one in the hospital bed, I see," Lucius smirked.

"He wouldn't be Harry if he didn't," Luna and Hermione chorused with a sweet smile at the boy who had now calmed considerably.

_'Well, I got back all right,' said Hermione. 'I brought Ron round - that took a while - and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall - he already knew - he just said, Harry's gone after him, hasn't he? and hurtled off to the third floor.'_

_'D'you think he meant you to do it?' said Ron. 'Sending you your father's cloak and everything?'_

"Yes," hissed Harry and Hermione, both of their eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

_'Well,' Hermione exploded, 'if he did - I mean to say that's terrible - you could have been killed.'_

_'No, it isn't,' said Harry thoughtfully. 'He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could…'_

"Training me like a dog!" Harry growled, "Yes master, I'll fetch your slippers, Yes master, I'll fetch your paper. Yes master, I'll roll over because you told me to even though I feel like a complete and utter TWAT!"

Luna giggled at the teen, patting him on the head and saying 'good boy'.

"Tell us how you really feel," Tom deadpanned, "Don't hold anything back."

"I would," Harry pouted, "But 'Mione curses me every time I swear."

"What?" Hermione said primly, "He made an old family friend blush and he was a Sailor for twenty odd years."

Severus and Tom both blinked in shock. In all their time in the muggle world, they had been told that sailors had the worst vocabulary of any living person. The fact that Harry could make one blush was terrifying.

_'Yeah, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right,' said Ron proudly. 'Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course - you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrollered by Ravenclaw without you - but the food'll be good.'_

_At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over._

_'You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT!' she said firmly._

"Aw, isn't she just such a sweetie?" Harry cooed.

_After a good night's sleep, Harry felt nearly back to normal._

"And that is most definitely NOT normal," Severus dead panned.

"The Harry factor," Luna sang.

_'I want to go to the feast,' he told Madam Pomfrey as she straightened his many candy boxes. 'I can, can't I?'_

_'Professor Dumbledore says you are to be allowed to go,' she said stiffly, as though in her opinion Professor Dumbledore didn't realize how risky feasts could be._

"He doesn't," Tom nodded seriously. "No one ever suspects the desserts."

"I suspect the desserts!" Harry cackled insanely, "It's the roast beef that no one watches!"

Severus, Draco, Pansy and Blaise looked at Harry incredulously.

"That was you?" they yelled. Harry just cackled harder.

_'And you have another visitor.'_

_'Oh, good,' said Harry. 'Who is it?'_

_Hagrid sidled through the door as he spoke. As usual when he was indoors, Hagrid looked too big to be allowed. He sat down next to Harry, took one look at him, and burst into tears._

"That's odd," Harry mused, "So do the Dursleys."

_'It's - all - my - ruddy - fault!' he sobbed, his face in his hands. 'I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the only thing he didn't know, an' I told him! Yeh could've died! All fer a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out an' made ter live as a Muggle!'_

_'Hagrid!' said Harry, shocked to see Hagrid shaking with grief and remorse, great tears leaking down into his beard. 'Hagrid, he'd have found out somehow, this is Voldemort we're talking about, he'd have found out even if you hadn't told him.'_

_'Yeh could've died!' sobbed Hagrid. 'An' don' say the name!'_

_'VOLDEMORT!' Harry bellowed, and Hagrid was so shocked, he stopped crying._

"Well … that is one way of getting someone to stop crying I guess," Narcissa stated as everyone else in the room burst into laughter.

_'I've met him and I'm calling him by his name. Please cheer up, Hagrid, we saved the Stone, it's gone, he can't use it. Have a Chocolate Frog, I've got loads…'_

"And once more you are giving away chocolate," Blaise muttered, shaking his head.

_Hagrid wiped his nose on the back of his hand and said, 'That reminds me. I've got yeh a present.'_

_'It's not a stoat sandwich, is it?' said Harry anxiously, and at last Hagrid gave a weak chuckle._

_'Nah. Dumbledore gave me the day off yesterday ter fix it. 'course, he shoulda sacked me instead - anyway, got yeh this…'_

_It seemed to be a handsome, leather-covered book. Harry opened it curiously. It was full of wizard photographs. Smiling and waving at him from every page were his mother and father._

_'Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos… knew yeh didn' have any… d'yeh like it?'_

_Harry couldn't speak, but Hagrid understood._

Harry smiled and hugged the three that were curled up on the lounge with him in happiness.

_Harry made his way down to the end-of-year feast alone that night. He had been held up by Madam Pomfrey's fussing about, insisting on giving him one last checkup, so the Great Hall was already full. It was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table._

"It looked really good," Harry said, eyes drooping sleepily. "There was one thing that would have made it look better though."

"Let me guess, have the snake turn to a lion?" Draco teased.

"No," Harry smiled dreamily, "Have the schools crest up with the colors of each house over their respective house. Hogwarts United – the way it always should have been.

"That does sound wonderful," Luna said with a smile.

_When Harry walked in there was a sudden hush, and then everybody started talking loudly at once._

"That, however," Narcissa scowled, "does not."

_He slipped into a seat between Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at him._

"Making him into an exhibit from the zoo," Neville growled.

_Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away._

_'Another year gone!' Dumbledore said cheerfully. 'And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were… you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts…_

"I can so not be the only professor who hates him saying that," Severus growled.

"You aren't," Neville and Luna muttered, "Flitwick and McGonagall hate it as well."

Severus sighed and nodded his head in understanding.

_Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two.'_

_A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Harry could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight._

Narcissa scowled at her son. "That is no way for the heir of a noble house to act in any circumstance Draco."

Draco nodded his head with a low, "Yes mother."

_'Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin,' said Dumbledore. 'However, recent events must be taken into account.'_

"And he should have done this the day that the points were earned, not when a complete house had already been assured of the win. He's basically saying that the students of Slytherin House don't matter. No wonder so many Slytherins turn to the Dark Arts!" Harry growled.

"Aren't any of you going to stop him?" Tom asked Hermione, Luna and Neville worriedly.

"No," the three of them answered. "He'll do it with a much worse reaction if we did stop him."

_The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little._

_'Ahem,' said Dumbledore. 'I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes…First - to Mr. Ronald Weasley…'_

_Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn._

Everyone in the room started to laugh at the image of Ron Weasley's head being turned into a bright red radish with very bad sun damage to it.

_'… for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.'_

"BOO!" Harry called.

_Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, 'My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!'_

_At last there was silence again._

_'Second - to Miss Hermione Granger… for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.'_

_Hermione buried her face in her arms; Harry strongly suspected she had burst into tears._

"Harry," Hermione said in a voice that was very calm and polite, "I really hate you right now."

"I know you do Hun," he answered drowsily, placing a soft kiss to the top of her head and snuggling deeper into the embrace of the other three teens around him, eyes drooping lower.

_Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves - they were a hundred points up'_

_'Third - to Mr. Harry Potter… said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. '… for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points.'_

Harry sat up, his anger burning away any amount of sleepiness he was feeling. "That two faced son of a dementor's pussy! He should have given me fifty points, the same as Ron and Hermione and then given Neville his points! That way we could have had a tied year between the two of our houses, instead of showing blatant favoritism for one."

" … Did he just say what I think he just said?" Lucius asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes, I do believe that he did," Tom deadpanned.

_The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points - exactly the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the house cup - if only Dumbledore had given Harry just one more point._

_Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent._

_'There are all kinds of courage,' said Dumbledore, smiling. 'It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.'_

_Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood up to yell and cheer_

"Of course we did!" Hermione exclaimed. "Neville is one of the nicest blokes around!"

_as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him._

_He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before._

"LIES!" Harry shouted, leaping off the lounge in rage, making the other three tumble off with him, Neville only just catching Hermione before she landed face first on the ground. "He is the person who gets the highest amount of points allocated to them in Herbology. He's a master mind with plants!"

_Harry, still cheering, nudged Ron in the ribs and pointed at Malfoy, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on him._

Harry giggled as Luna, Neville and, for some reason, Blaise started chasing him around the room, trying to get him to sit in the chair once more. Everyone who was watching just shook their heads in resignation, only to laugh when Harry was captured and he acted like he was now going to be spending the night with dementors rather than curled up on a too small lounge with three of his favored people.

_'Which means,' Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, 'we need a little change of decoration.'_

_He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place.__Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile._

"I could only smile at her because I knew that she was just as disgusted with the Headmaster for what he had done to my students as I was," Severus said, grimly.

_He caught Harry's eye and Harry knew at once that Snape's feelings toward him hadn't changed one jot._

_This didn't worry Harry. It seemed as though life would be back to normal next year, or as normal as it ever was at Hogwarts._

"Only you would find stability in being hated," Pansy giggled.

"It's good to have someone treat you the same way all the time. It's better than being torn down by everyone when they put you up on a pedestal you wanted nothing to do with in the first place."

_It was the best evening of Harry's life, better than winning at Quidditch, or Christmas, or knocking out mountain trolls… he would never, ever forget tonight._

_Harry had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To their great surprise, both he and Ron passed with good marks; Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first years._

_Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too.__It was a shame, but as Ron said, you couldn't have everything in life._

"They aren't stupid," Harry muttered sleepily. "They have dyslexia and it affects their work and the way they speak, so they don't say much. In the muggle world, special glasses are given to help people with it."

"And there is a potion that is used with a few spells that can fix it in this world. I'll talk to both Mr Goyle and Mr Crabbe before they go home this year."

_And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ('I always hope they'll forget to give us these,' said Fred Weasley sadly);_

_Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns;_

"This was when we discovered that Harry was allergic to the every flavor beans," Neville explained to the listening adults.

_pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station._

_It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles._

"And he should have been on the other side of the barrier on September first for the students and parents that didn't know the way," Hermione scowled.

_'You must come and stay this summer,' said Ron, 'both of you - I'll send you an owl.'_

_'Thanks,' said Harry, 'I'll need something to look forward to.'_

_People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:_

_'Bye, Harry!'_

_'See you, Potter!_

_Still famous,' said Ron, grinning at him._

_'Not where I'm going, I promise you,' said Harry._

"I don't think he really believed me," Harry stated, half asleep.

_He, Ron, and Hermione passed through the gateway together. 'There he is, Mom, there he is, look!'_

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville all groaned while Draco, Pansy and Blaise started laughing.

"It's not funny," Harry pouted, "She's a stalker!"

_It was Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, but she wasn't pointing at Ron._

_'Harry Potter!' she squealed. 'Look, Mom! I can see -'_

_'Be quiet, Ginny, and it's rude to point.'_

_Mrs. Weasley smiled down at them._

_'Busy year?' she said._

_'Very,' said Harry. 'Thanks for the fudge and the sweater, Mrs. Weasley.'_

"You waited for six months to thank her for presents she made you for Christmas?" Neville asked, blinking at Harry.

"Of course not! I sent her a thank you note the day after Christmas."

"Yet you still thanked her face to face," Blaise pointed out.

"What? I couldn't just go up and hug her now, could I?" Harry asked sarcastically.

_'Oh, it was nothing, dear.'_

_'Ready, are you?'_

_It was Uncle Vernon, still purple-faced, still mustached, still looking furious at the nerve of Harry, carrying an owl in a cage in a station full of ordinary people. Behind him stood Aunt Petunia and Dudley, looking terrified at the very sight of Harry._

Harry started to cackle madly, making everyone who wasn't used to his brand of insanity to move away from him inch by agonizing inch.

_'You must be Harry's family!' said Mrs. Weasley._

_'In a manner of speaking,' said Uncle Vernon. 'Hurry up, boy, we haven't got all day.' He walked away._

_Harry hung back for a last word with Ron and Hermione._

_'See you over the summer, then.'_

_'Hope you have - er - a good holiday,' said Hermione, looking uncertainly after Uncle Vernon, shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant._

"I really had no idea, did I?" Hermione asked, sighing regretfully.

"No, not really," Harry agreed softly, nuzzling into Hermione's hair.

_'Oh, I will,' said Harry, and they were surprised at the grin that was spreading over his face. 'They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer…'_

"You clever little snake!" Tom half yelled in excitement, only to be shushed by Neville, who pointed determinedly at Harry, who was curled in and around Neville, Luna and Hermione in what had to be an extremely uncomfortable position.

Tom nodded his understanding as he closed the book and transfigured the single seater lounge into a bed large enough to hold all four teens before hitting Harry with a hex that would temporarily make his hearing dullen.

"So," Blaise began wearily, "That was first year from the view point of Harry Potter huh?"

"Yes," Luna said, smiling as Neville got Harry untangled from her and Hermione and picked him up to take him to a room that had appeared on the other side of the room. The blonde female started to run her fingers through Hermione hair in a comforting manner, "And just think that this year was the calmest for him."

Everyone who wasn't aware of that paled drastically.

"This was calm?" Narcissa gaped.

"Oh yes," Hermione answered her, "We still have giant snakes, dementor's, dragons, mer-people, mazes, mass murderers, Umbitch, giants centaurs and whatever the Hell else is waiting for us in past and future years. I wasn't with Harry all the time, you know, so some of this stuff will be news to me as well as to you."

"So what happens now?" Draco asked, watching as everyone stood.

"For starters," Lucius said, "All of us will go to bed. We have one full day left in this room and then a few hours in the morning to get out of here without most of us being discovered. We can discuss how to get Narcissa, Tom and myself out without detection in the morning. For now, everyone needs to have a decent night's sleep."

"I find myself liking the sound of that," Luna hummed. "Good night everyone."

Everyone in the room returned her wishes and trundled off to bed, more exhausted then they could ever remember being before.


	19. Chapter 19

_A/N: Heya peeps, long time no see! I am back, even though there may still be a little wait between chapters. This is the last chapter of HPPS, yes, sad, I know, however, if you are one of those who are on when this chapter is uploaded, then as soon as you have finished reading it, the first chapter of the Sequel will also be up. It is titled H-Pecause [get it? I know, I'm a sad sad person ... and oddly proud of it XD] Hope you_ _enjoy_

Chapter 19

Everyone in the room woke the following morning to the smell of hot food and the sounds of frying. Slowly they all rose and trudged into the kitchen only to stop and blink in shock when the scene that they had been expecting wasn't what they faced ... Instead of Harry standing before them, they found Remus and Minerva with two bleary-eyed red-haired twins yawning over overly large mugs of what looked to be extra strong tea.

"Morning," the twin on the left yawned as he caught sight of them.

"Don't mind us," the right-hand twin continued, fighting off sleep, "we had one hell of a night with our wonderful mother deciding that we are complete failures since we are …"

"High school drop-outs," the two of them chorused before both of their heads connected with the table before them, missing their mugs by a hair's width.

"You wouldn't think that they've had pepper up already, would you?" Minerva said with a small smile in the direction of the twins before looking back at the crowd in the door. "Well, are you going to sit for breakfast, or are you just going to stand there all day. We do have things to discuss after all."

Slowly the crowd at the door entered and sat, still blinking at the oddness of having other people in the room with them after what felt like so long with only those around them for company.

"Hey Min, Remus," Luna chirped as she bounced in. "You'll have to do the talking this morning, Harry's still asleep."

Everyone stared at the girl in various degrees of shock.

"How the Hell did you manage that? Remus asked softly in awe.

Luna and Neville smiled sheepishly and turned their faces away, mumbling something that made Remus laugh loud enough to wake the twins.

"We're awake!" they called with their eyes still closed, making everyone in the room laugh at them.

"Have you two really had pepper up potion today?" Severus asked, looking at the two of them worriedly.

"Yeah," they answered.

"That's one problem with what we do," one of them said. "Both Fred and I have built up immunity to most of the common potions."

"Even though we don't use the common potions in treatment to what it is that we do to ourselves, we've still built up a resistance to them since the main components in the potions we do take are the same as in the common ones but in higher concentrations," Fred continued as his brother took a large gulp of the tea before him.

"Don't get us wrong," George stated as his twin took a gulp of his tea.

"We love what we do," Fred said, looking at the potion's master with fuzzy eyes, "and we wouldn't do anything different even if we had known what effects our experiments would have on us …"

"We just wish that people would take the time to listen to us when we explain what we want and what we don't want to do with our lives," George continued, looking at the man with eyes identical to his brothers.

"Our Mother doesn't like the fact that we left school in our NEWT year even though what we want with our lives is nothing like what she wants us to do," Fred explained. "She wants us to sit behind a desk in the Ministry and fill out paperwork."

"And she believes that hassling us until we give in is going to work," George finished.

"When was the last time you slept?" Neville asked as he finally gave into his urge to inspect the twins as their Healer, not just as their brother.

The two red-heads looked at each other then back to Neville. "We can't remember," they chorused.

"It was either last Saturday," George slurred softly.

"Or the Saturday before that," Fred murmured, slumping slightly.

"Why?" Hermione asked calmly, exchanging horrified looks with Luna and Neville.

"Someone," Fred started.

"We suspect our so-called Mother," George interrupted, gaining a nod from his brother.

"Someone broke into the shop and destroyed all of our products, experiments and our notes for everything," Fred looked close to tears.

"Even our mail orders were ruined," George said, a tear falling down his cheek. "Nearly forty thousand galleons were lost in that one act of vandalism."

"It's a good thing that I put insurance on the business then, isn't it?" an emotionless voice stated from the doorway. Everyone turned to see Harry standing there, face emotionless and eyes blank. "When you sent me the letter saying that I was going to be a partner in your business and own a third of it, I went to the goblins and got them to insure the place and contents. They were a bit iffy to begin with, but when I explained that they get paid for insuring it and they get all interest on what isn't paid up front as well as the percentage that the payment is increased by, they were all for it and started putting it into effect. Last I heard the other shop owners in Diagon are clamouring for the opportunity to get in on the act."

"Harry," Hermione asked softly. "What are you doing up? You should still be asleep."

"The twin need sleep so I came to collect them," Was her answer and everyone watched in silence as he walked into the room, grabbed a wrist of each twin and pulled them from the room gently in the direction of the other room, leaving a very quiet room with the only sound being quite laughter coming from Remus, much to the bemusement of the rest of the room.

"What is so funny, Remus?" Narcissa asked. "Shouldn't you be worried by his actions rather than amused by them?"

"It's alright Narcissa," Remus said as he calmed down adequately. "He doesn't do it as often as Lily did, but he still does it occasionally when he is exhausted beyond belief, overly stressed or picks up on the distress of those close to him."

Severus blinked at the man until something clicked and he burst out laughing. "Is he as bad as she was?"

Remus grinned at the dark man, not being able to hide his reaction to the man's laughter – his cub was right, the potion's master had a voice made for sin. "Worse. We discovered it over last summer when he was in Headquarters. You should have seen how high Sirus jumped when Harry appeared fully clothed in the shower with him after he had curled up in the bottom of the shower after going into one of his dementor-induced depressions the night after the trial and asked him if he knew just how bad sitting in the rain was for his health, no matter how warm the rain was to begin with. He then preceded to list each and every problem that could pop up just due to sitting in the rain naked in explicit detail while pulling him out of the shower, drying him, dressing him and tucking him into bed before kissing his forehead and telling him that he has to take better care of himself because he now has people who love him and would be lost without him then walked back to bed. He was so shocked that he stayed in bed, not even daring to go and turn off the shower. I had to get up and do it after I stopped laughing."

"Are the two of you going to explain what it is you are talking about?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Harry has inherited Lily's habit of sleepwalking," Remus stated. "Like I said, he doesn't do it often, so it often freaks people out when he does do it."

"What I am more interested in is why you were sleeping in the same room as black," Severus stated, staring at him intensely.

Remus smirked. "Jealous?" Severus growled softly, making Remus' smirk turn into a soft smile. "Calm, Severus. Nothing ever happened between Sirius and myself. No matter how much I loved him, it was only in the form of brotherhood. He was far to childish to be a perspective mate to both me and the wolf and he was always the first to admit that. He, I and James had a relationship much like that of these six, but with Sirius being the central figure when it came to needing comfort. I was sharing his room to help him with the nightmares. During school, it wasn't uncommon to see Sirius in mine or James' bed or one of us in his due to the strength of his nightmares and his time in Azkaban only made them increase in both severity and frequency."

"By the end of summer last year, it was common to find Remus, Sirius and Harry all curled up together in Sirius' bed in the mornings due to one or other of them having nightmares during the night," Hermione added softly. "It started when Ron tried kicking Harry out of the room they were sharing due to him getting nightmares. He changed his mind in the end after Sirius got to him after hearing him yelling at Harry for being inconsiderate about other people's need to sleep rather then listening to someone screaming."

"He also got Molly to shut up when she started screetching about our inappropriate behaviour towards Harry by inviting him into our bed," Remus said with a roll of his eyes. "She knew that Sirius was impotent and that Harry was my Cub, but she still accused us of paedophilia. She was so shocked over Sirius's attack on her that she never bought it up again."

Severus smirked slightly at that and looked the man over obviously, making said man blush and turn back to the stove. Severus raised an eyebrow and his smirk grew. Seemed like what the brat had said was true … it looked like he had found what he was going to be doing for the rest of the day to prevent boredom. He wasn't surprised to feel the Fae in him purr at the idea of claiming the obviously submissive creature.

Everyone in the room watched the two with smirks or resigned shakes of their heads, each thinking 'It's about bloody time!'

* * *

When Harry awoke, it was to much confusion. He was sure that he had gone to sleep wrapped up in Hermione, Luna and Neville on a chair not on a large bed and he was positive that not one of the three previous mentioned would sleep holding him as though he were a teddy bear, let alone two of them do so at the same time.

As he was thinking, one of the people holding him moved slightly and a flash of red caught his attention. Closing his eyes once more, he pushed his magic out towards his now known captures and frowned at what he found. Both twins were magically and physically exhausted enough to have been put into a sleep deep enough to be classified as a coma by their close presence. With a frown, he pulled his awareness into himself and searched for his own magic and frowning deeper at the severely depleted state of his own magic. It looked like it was going to be up to the twins to restore their own states to normal, unless …

It took Harry less than a minute to decide to go through with his idea and allowed himself to fall completely into his core, spreading the meagre reserves left out to attach to the smallest vein of magic Hogwarts was surrounded with that he could. He smiled softly when his gentle questioning caress was answered by a thinning of the vein and it attached, making him giggle softly at the sensation as the comforting sensation of warm magic filtering through him into the twins. It wasn't something that he could do to replenish his own core, but he could replenish theirs for them so they could get a decent rest without their bodies working overtime to fix the damage that had happened.

It was while he was doing this that he caught up with what was going on in the rest of the castle as Elise decided to impart all the gossip she had at her disposal to him. He growled in displeasure when he discovered what had happened to bring the twins to him in the state that they were in and laughed as he watched the dance that Remus and Severus were doing around the other, neither one wanting to start the claiming process before the two of them were at their strongest.

All the while, he wasn't aware of the happenings around his physical body. He never noticed the glaringly bright light that surrounded first him then the twins. He never heard the panicked shouting that started when Pansy decided to take it on herself to check on the three teens and he never noticed the twins as they slowly woke, feeling fully energised and, after realising what must have happened, began to feed the magic that Harry was feeding into them back into his magic core as their own magic.

Once Elise believed that her boys' core had filled enough for him to take care of himself while he was away from her, she gently released herself from his mind and magic and with a final soft caress of her magic, she left him to re-join the real world once more.

Harry stretched with his eyes closed and a soft smile on his face before freezing as he noticed the difference in how he was feeling. He chuckled softly and shook his head as he opened his eyes. "Conniving building," he teased, looking up at the ceiling. "I should punish you and the twins for working against me, but I find I'm in too good a mood to be angry at the three of you."

Two bodies lay themselves across his legs and chest holding him down while a smug sounding trill made him laugh once more. "Ok, you win, now let me up I've got to move."

The twins let him sit up, laughing at him, their eyes now shining brightly and full of mischief.

"What just happened?" Lucius asked when it was evident that none of the three on the bed had discovered their audience.

"Harry here decided to use the magic reserves stored in Hogwarts to restore our magic core," Fred answered.

"When we woke and realised what he was doing, we just started bleeding magic into him at the same rate that he was pushing it into us, refilling his reserves enough that he has enough to protect himself and those surrounding him without risking his life in the process," George added, eyes sparkling in amusement at what had happened.

"Why didn't he just pull that magic into himself when he was getting low?" Blaise asked.

"I can't process the magic," Harry shrugged. "Why do you think that I need different potions and healing spells then everyone else? I'm a conduit for magic. I have been since I was born apparently. That would be why I wasn't killed when I was hit by the killing curse. I didn't like the feeling of the magic so it got sent back to its origin. Add that to the Sacrificial Magic that Mum activated and there was no way to kill me using magical means."

"But .. the twins …" Draco spluttered.

"Remember, Harry blood adopted all six of us into his family using his blood," Luna stated. "While we aren't conduits for magic like he is, our blood holds the same components that makes him a conduit. That means that normal magic can be used for us – or it could be if the twins didn't like being the product of experimentation –"

"OI!" the twins yelled playfully. "Those experiments are important!"

"I'm sure they are," Luna said with no interest and waved a hand at them as though they were flies that were bothering her. "but it also means that any magic that is used on us can be used by him if we process it first because it has been changed enough to slip into his core without it being rejected.

"Then how do you explain how he still gets damage when he gets into duels like with the Dark Lord," Severus asked, curiously.

"First, the damage from any spell will still remain if it is the type that has an effect on his physical body," Hermione took over in the same bossy tone that she was famous for when she first joined the school. "It's only when the magic has an effect on his magic that it doesn't – which is most potions and all healing spells since they utilise a person's magic to make the changes."

"Secondly," Harry cut in, staring at Hermione until she flushed and muttered an apology for the tone she had used, "Tom used my blood in the ritual to get his body back so he is in the same boat as these five. If he were to hit me with an Avada curse now it have a better chance of killing me, though it might not quite stick properly."

"It would most likely have a draining effect on him, rather than killing him outright," Remus explained to the confused and gaping people surrounding him.

Severus looked around at everyone and frowned. "How are we going to get Tom, Lucius and Narcissa out of the castle tomorrow without the Headmaster discovering them?"

Harry stretched and stood, making everyone blush and look away since he was wearing only a pair of underpants that did nothing to hide his package.

"Elise said that she can make a passage that leads into one of the passages out of the castle and Remus and the twins can lead them outside where they can then go their separate ways. She said she'd do it after supper tonight since all of us students need to make sure that we are fully packed for tomorrow. If you hear on the wireless that there was a homicide at the school, ignore it, it won't be anyone of any importance."

Everyone chuckled and separated into separate areas of the room to continue what they were doing before they were interrupted by Pansy. They couldn't wait for the following day – it would be wonderful to stand in fresh air and feel the sun on their skins once again, no matter how much they loved the castle.


End file.
